Sourav Ganguly knew the right players to back: Irfan Pathan

During his playing career, Sourav Ganguly established himself as one of the world’s leading batsmen and also one of the most successful captains of the Indian national cricket team. Ganguly gave the right direction to a talented bunch of individuals with his leadership and revolutionized Indian cricket as his team developed a new must-win attitude.

He took some outstanding decisions and led his side with complete pride. Under Ganguly’s leadership, several Indian greats commenced their careers. The likes of Yuvraj Singh, Virender Sehwag, Zaheer Khan, Irfan Pathan, Harbhajan Singh and MS Dhoni started their careers under Ganguly.

Ganguly’s contribution to Indian cricket without second thoughts was beyond numbers and statistics. In a recent interaction, former Indian all-rounder Irfan Pathan was asked to name the ‘best leader of men in India cricket’. Without a surprise, Pathan went with Sourav Ganguly and said that the former India captain knew the right players to back.

Talking to cricket.com, Irfan Pathan reminisced how Ganguly supported Yuvraj Singh during a tough phase at the beginning of his career. Ganguly was famous, for backing his players with positivity. 

“Sourav Ganguly wanted to make sure that he built the team. I remember Yuvraj Singh was struggling at the start of his career for quite a few matches. Ganguly backed him,” Pathan told.

“He knew that if I back this guy, some amazing things can happen in the future and certainly it did happen,” Pathan further said. Backing players motivates them big time and it makes them aware of the trust which the captain has in them. Ganguly’s call proved to be true as Yuvraj exactly did the same and became a Champion for the men in blue.

 He built the team when the India team was in a slump – Irfan Pathan about Dada

Pathan said that Ganguly built the Indian team when it was in the collapse. The fixing episode of 2000 was surely the lowest point in Indian cricket. The fans had lost faith in them. Under this colossal dark cloud, Sourav Ganguly took the reigns of the team. He vowed to take Indian cricket back to where it belonged and achieved it with pride.

“Not only Yuvraj, Ganguly also backed youngsters like Harbhajan Singh and Zaheer Khan. He built the team when the India team was in a slump. People did not love cricket because it was a tough time for cricket in India. Making people love the Indian cricket team again, the credit should be given to Sourav Ganguly.”

Irfan, who was India’s best bet as a fast-bowling all-rounder during his playing days, also added that Dada was the leader of the players.

“That is why if we talk about leader, he was the leader of the players. Ganguly had only one agenda. To make sure Indian team grows. Nothing else,” Pathan signed off.