Sourav Ganguly became Indian captain in 2000 due to my 'overtime' efforts: Ashok Malhotra

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) President Sourav Ganguly is widely considered among one of the finest Indian captains of all time. He was appointed as Indian skipper in the year 2000 after Sachin Tendulkar resigned from the role. Indian Cricketers Association (ICA) Chief Ashok Malhotra, who was part of the selection panel in 2000, recently talked about how difficult it was to “convince everyone” to make Sourav Ganguly as Indian captain after Tendulkar’s lacklustre run as skipper.

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ICA Chief talks about how Sourav Ganguly replaced Sachin Tendulkar as captain

While interacting with Sportskeeda on Facebook Live, Ashok Malhotra said that appointing Sourav Ganguly as vice-captain and captain required a lot on effort on the part of the selectors and officials back then. He recalled a panel discussion where they were in favour of Ganguly by a 3-2 vote to become as India’s vice-captain during Sachin Tendulkar’s run. However, he revealed that the BCCI President at the time walked into the panel and told them to do “some rethinking” on their decision.

According to Malhotra, two of the three who were in favour of Sourav Ganguly “stuck” to their guns. But the third person began reconsidering because of the orders of then BCCI President. While the committee were not successful in making Ganguly as India’s vice-captain then, they managed to do it later. The ICA official acknowledged the 113-Test veteran as a “legendary captain” which many acknowledge today but it required some 'overtime' efforts to appoint him to the role.

Ashok Malhotra further revealed that upon Sachin Tendulkar’s exit, the committee had to convince everyone to make Sourav Ganguly as Indian captain going forward. He stated that the job was difficult because his teammates Anil Kumble and Ajay Jadeja were actually in line to take over Team India captaincy from the batting icon. The people who opposed Ganguly were of the belief that his running between the wickets were not upto the mark and that his habits such as having soft drinks daily did not make him the right choice.

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Sourav Ganguly’s captaincy record and run as administrator

Sourav Ganguly led India to 21 Test wins in 49 matches and 76 ODI wins in 146 matches. Some of his most notable achievements include leading the ‘Men in Blue’ to the final of the 2003 World Cup and ending Australia’s 16-Test winning streak in 2001. He also led the Indian team to a NatWest tri-series win in England in 2002.

On a personal note, Sourav Ganguly played 113 Tests and 311 ODIs between 1992 and 2008 to aggregate over 18,000 international runs. The former Indian captain is currently the BCCI President after he was appointed to the role in October 2019. Previously, he served as the President of the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) between 2015 and 2019.

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Image credit: England Cricket Twitter