Sachin wanted to end Sourav Ganguly's career after Barbados Test, reveals Vikrant Gupta
Sachin's anger on Sourav Ganguly improved the latter's career
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Vikrant Gupta has revealed that the newly appointed skipper Sachin Tendulkar threatened and warned that he would end Sourav Ganguly’s career and send him back home after the Barbados Test loss. He also recalled how Sachin doubted himself after the Test series and contemplated quitting.
If there is one point in Sachin’s career which was not at the highest standards, that would be his captaincy. Despite being one of the best batsmen around the world, his tactics and captaincy strategies could not live up to the potential. Under his captaincy, India only came out victorious on four occasions out of the 25 Tests that the had skippered the side. The final nail on his captaincy tenure was in the 1997 Test series against West Indies. After two draws in the first two Test, the teams locked horn in Bridgetown, which decided the series in the home side’s favour.Â
Batting first, the hosts scored 298 runs, with Shivnarine Chanderpaul leading the charge, scoring an unbeaten 137 runs off 284 deliveries. In reply, India, on the back of Tendulkar’s knock of 92 took a first-innings lead of 21 runs. On top of that, the visiting bowling unit was successful in their hunt, with Abbey Kuruvilla picking up a fifer.Â
After all the drama, Tendulkar and co had to chase only 120, where India’s disastrous batting display folded for just 81 runs. After the game, senior journalist, Vikrant Gupta revealed how Sachin warned the rookie Ganguly and admitted that he would end his career and send him back home.Â
“Sachin also gave a lesson to all the players in the dressing room, doubting himself on his abilities after the two-Test series. Sourav Ganguly, who was new to the team went up to console the skipper. When he walked up to Sachin, the then captain told him to get ready for the next day’s morning run. Ganguly did not turn up for it and that is when Sachin threatened him that he will send him back home and end his career,” he said on a YouTube video.
Gupta also added how the then Indian skipper words changed the southpaw’s attitude and he started working hard on his fitness and abilities. He also reckoned that the aforementioned loss changed the master blaster’s outlook on the game.Â
“After that incident (81 all-out), Ganguly never made Sachin angry and realised that he had to work on his abilities and started working hard. If not for the loss against West Indies, Sachin would have retained his captaincy and would have gone on to become a great captain. That one loss changed Sachin’s outlook on the game,” he concluded.
