Irfan Pathan reveals Sourav Ganguly's actions before deliberately going late for the toss

Former India cricketer Irfan Pathan recently opened up about current BCCI President Sourav Ganguly's tactics of turning up late for tosses during his time as the skipper of Team India. Irfan Pathan made his debut for India during the 2003-04 Border-Gavaskar Trophy when Sourav Ganguly at the helm.  

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Ganguly's actions had infuriated Steve Waugh and Nasser Hussain with the former even claiming in his autobiography ‘Out of My Comfort Zone‘ that Sourav Ganguly turned up late for the toss as many as seven times during their famous 2001 series, which India won 2-1.

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Irfan Pathan on Sourav Ganguly's tactics to arrive late at the toss

While talking on Star Sports' Cricket Connected, Irfan Pathan turned back the clock and opened up about an incident when the former India captain would take his time in the dressing room, even though it was time for the toss to take place. Pathan recalled the toss incident from his maiden tour of Australia in 2003-04 when Sourav Ganguly made Steve Waugh wait again. The former left-arm pacer said that he was in the dressing room and he remembers that whenever it was time for the toss, Dada (Sourav Ganguly) used to look at the clock and the manager would remind him about the same.

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He further said that during the Sydney Test, Sachin Tendulkar asked Sourav Ganguly to turn up for the toss on time, but the former skipper would take his sweet time to put on his shoes, sweater and adjusted his cap slowly on purpose. He also said that when a person is getting late, the pressure becomes visible on his face but Sourav Ganguly would never be in a hurry.

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Recently, while speaking with Mayank Agrawal on the ‘Dada Opens With Mayank’ show online, the BCCI President has shared his side of the story on the recent comments made by Nasser Hussain and Steve Waugh. During the show, Sourav Ganguly told Agrawal about how him coming late for the toss started out as an accident.

Sourav Ganguly said that during the first Test match of the 2001-02 series against England at home, he had actually left his blazer in the dressing room. The BCCI President then went on to reveal how he then purposely started to go late for the toss after seeing the opposition’s reaction to it. While speaking about the toss incident involving Steve Waugh, Sourav Ganguly said that the whole toss situation was done in good humour, as he has tremendous respect for his friend Steve Waugh.

Irfan Pathan credits Sachin Tendulkar for being promoted in the batting order

Recently, Irfan Pathan credited Sachin Tendulkar for him being promoted to No.3 in the batting order. While speaking to a news daily, Irfan Pathan said that Sachin Tendulkar had told Rahul Dravid that the southpaw has the power to hit sixes, can take on the new ball and can play the fast bowlers well. The cricketer-turned-commentator/analyst said that it was tried for the first time in the series against Sri Lanka (during the home series in late 2005) when spin legend Muttiah Muralitharan was at his peak and the idea was to attack him as well.

(IMAGE: IRFAN PATHAN / INSTAGRAM)