Sourav Ganguly asked Harbhajan Singh to join him and take off his shirt after 2002 NatWest final

The final of the 2002 ODI triangular series between England and India will be remembered as one of the iconic moments in the history of Indian cricket. The Men in Blue, captained by Sourav Ganguly, snatched victory from the jaws of defeat after being put under the pump by the English bowlers. The likes of Mohammad Kaif and Yuvraj Singh played a couple of stupendous knocks to guide their team home.

Post the triumph, Ganguly was seen removing his shirt and rotating the same as a part of the celebration. It was pretty similar to the incident when Andrew Flintoff took off his shirt and ran around at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. Meanwhile, Ganguly, 46, reminisced a funny incident at the Lord’s balcony that also involved VVS Laxman and Harbhajan Singh.

The idea came to my mind just at the moment

“I was standing on the right side. VVS Laxman was on my left and Harbhajan Singh was behind my back. So, as I was removing my T-shirt, VVS tried to tell me, ‘Don’t do it, don’t do it!’ After I removed my shirt, Harbhajan from my back asked, ‘What do I do now?’ And I said, ‘You also remove your shirt!’,” Ganguly was quoted as saying in a show named ‘Breakfast with Champions’ hosted by Gaurav Kapur.

India won the match by two wickets with three balls to spare. Meanwhile, the cricketer still regrets about performing the act and considers it as a mistake. He also had to appropriately answer about the same to his daughter, Sana Ganguly, who previously asked the legendary cricketer about the requirement of removing his shirt at the time of a cricket match.

“The idea came to my mind just at the moment. I remembered how Andrew Flintoff took off his shirt at Wankhede to celebrate a 3-3 series draw before, and I just thought why not do the same at Lord’s. But I am also embarrassed about the incident.

My daughter once asked, ‘Why did you do that? Is it necessary to do that in cricket?’ And I had to tell her that ‘No, I did it once by mistake’. Somethings things happen in life in which you do not have any control,” the former cricketer added.

Here is the video of Ganguly’s interview

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