Flashback: When Sourav Ganguly missed a crucial Test on a green track in Nagpur

With an eye on preparing for the upcoming crucial Test series against South Africa, the Indian team is utilizing the Sri Lankan series by playing on similar conditions dishing out green tracks. At the Eden Gardens, the Indian pacer took all the 17 wickets and the spinners got just to bowl 10 overs. The 2nd Test at VCA Stadium in Nagpur and the host for the final Test, Delhi’s Feroz Shah Kotla will be greeting the teams with similar lively tracks.

There was a time where these green tracks didn’t exist in India and in fact, the home captains were known to show dissent even if a tinge of green was visible on the surface. In a famous incident in 2004, at the Nagpur’s old VCA Stadium, the then Indian captain Sourav Ganguly ruled himself out due to injury and so did the off-spinner Harbhajan Singh due to health issues.

Various stories revolved around it digging the reasons for their move especially because the Indian team was 0-1 down in the series coming into the 3rd Test and need to draw levels in the series to regain the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. India wanted to play on a turner but a green track was laid out for the crucial match.

The Australian version

According to the Aussie version of this incident players, Ganguly and Harbhajan kept themselves out because it was a green wicket. In 2011, Matthew Hayden released a book which stated: “When Ganguly and Harbhajan went out to see the deck a couple of days before the game, they looked like farmers inspecting crops after a hail storm. We predicted neither would play, and they did not.”

Vice-captain Rahul Dravid led the Indian team in that game as Ganguly withdrew with a leg-muscle injury while Harbhajan suffered food poisoning. India lost the game by a huge 342-run margin as they managed to aggregate a mere 385 runs in the game while Australia posted 398 and 329/5 dec in their respective innings.

Even Adam Gilchrist pointed out Ganguly’s absence saying that the Indian skipper was afraid of a home series defeat. “There was speculation that Sourav Ganguly was quarrelling with the head of cricket in Nagpur and a rumour that a spicy pitch might be prepared out of spite or revenge against the captain,” the Australian wicketkeeper wrote in his book.

What’s the truth?

It is tough to judge the truth based on Aussies players’ claims but the Indian physiotherapist Andrew Leipus had given regular updates to the media regarding the captain’s injury. The Australian born termed the injury as a rare occurrence among cricketers.

“The scan report this morning has revealed that there is bit of an effusion, there is a bit of fluid in the hip joint,” his release to the media stated. Even after 13 years, there is still no clarity on why they missed the match, which led to Team India’s first home series defeat against Australia since 1969.