Sourav Ganguly recalls breaching Pakistan's security on 2004 tour to eat roadside kebabs

Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) President and ex-India captain Sourav Ganguly has revealed a memorable incident from India's tour of Pakistan in 2004. In a recent interview with a leading publication, Ganguly opened up on how he mand to successfully slip through one night from team hotel to enjoy local cuisine in neighbouring country despite heavy security arrangements. He had also written about  same incident in his autobiography 'A Century Is t Eugh: My Roller Coaster Ride to Success'.

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Sourav Ganguly slipped through security to enjoy local food in Pakistan

2004 tour of Pakistan was historic for a lot of reasons. It was a tour that was built on political diplomacy to ease out tensions between archrivals. India defeated Pakistan 3-2 and 2-1 in both  ODI and Test series respectively and reby scripted history by becoming first Indian side to win both Test and ODI series on Pakistan soil after 50 years. Besides cricket, players also enjoyed local street food during ir month and a half stay in Pakistan. 

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Ganguly went down memory lane and reminisced about times when he used to slip out of team hotel to have kebabs on streets of Pakistan. He stated that security given to Indian team was really tight, so he had to formulate a secret plan to go out and have food. However, his plan had to be cut short after he was caught by Indian journalist Rajdeep Sardesai, who was also a dear friend to his and was heard by passers-by that it was indeed Sourav Ganguly who was on street eating kebabs. 

Subsequently, Ganguly was immediately recognized by Pakistani people, which made him run out of re back to hotel with his group of people, despite wearing a cap and a handkerchief to hide his face. former southpaw was n called up by n Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf, who sternly asked him to let him directly kw about requiring extra security for going out of hotel rar than being involved in a security breach. Ganguly chuckled that he remembered Sardesai, hoping that he was watching interview.

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Sourav Ganguly gets tired of Pakistan's security

Pakistan has historically been a difficult place to tour due to security issues. Ganguly went on to recall his first day on tour when he came out of his room to find two security personnel with AK-47 and how he actually got so fed up that he requested local manr to remove security in front of his room. Ganguly believed that his Indian team was to play in Pakistan for 45 days, so security guards should rar be stationed at hotel lobby and t outside ir rooms. He admitted that it was difficult to wake up every morning and see someone standing in front of m with an AK-47. former India captain joked that if security misfired, y didn't have to go till lobby.

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