Sourav Ganguly, the veteran Indian batter and skipper, who was the architect of building a core team for India, which included the likes of several players who went on to be veterans in the game, played his farewell Test back in 2008.
Ganguly stood in his farewell Test at Nagpur against Australia in November 2008, as MS Dhoni was then the newly announced captain of the Indian side. What stood apart from everything in the match was Dhoni’s gesture of asking Ganguly to captain the side during the closing stages on Day 5.
Nothing was pre-planned about it; however, what he felt was the ability to captain a side during his last day on the field—what could be a better way to say farewell to one of the best leaders of the game?
In his decorated career, Ganguly went on to play 113 Tests; he scored 7212 runs, averaging over 42, while also scoring 11363 runs in ODIs as he scored 38-hundreds in his career, where he stepped in as India’s most successful captain till his time.
“Being one of the greatest captains that India has ever produced, what better farewell can you give from your side?” said Dhoni. “Last day (of his career), he is standing on a Test match field, playing the game. If he can say ‘goodbye’ leading for a while, then why not? It doesn’t really change the result of the game. That was the reason behind it.”
Sourav Ganguly scored 85 runs in the first inning, while he got out for a golden duck in the second innings. India won the match by a whopping 172 runs.
“I don’t know whether he (Ganguly) enjoyed it (captaining the side in the last few minutes of the match) or not because it came all of a sudden. It wasn’t planned, like ‘this is what you should do’. I thought this was the best way for him to say farewell, leading on the field. Even if it is for 15-20 minutes, why not?” concluded Dhoni.
MS Dhoni all set to be retained by CSK for IPL 2025
Recently, it was announced that the 43-year-old veteran IPL wicketkeeper and skipper of the Chennai Super Kings, who led them to 5-IPL titles, has officially informed CSK management of his availability for IPL 2025.
Chennai Super Kings are also determined to retain their ‘Thala’ for the upcoming IPL season, as an uncapped player based on the new retention rules from the IPL governing committee. For uncapped players, the retention slot has been rated for INR 4 crores, while the veteran might bear a larger amount for them as well.
