The Nagpur Test against Australia in November 2008 was special for Sourav Ganguly as he had announced it to be the last international match of his decorated career. What made the occasion even more special was the gesture from skipper MS Dhoni, who asked Ganguly to do the captaincy duty during the closing stages of the match on the fifth day.
Recalling that moment during a promotional event, Dhoni revealed that it was not planned and there couldn’t have been a better way to give farewell to one of India’s best leaders.
“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.”
India won the Test by 172 runs to clinch the four-match series 2-0. Ganguly scored 85 in the first innings but was dismissed for a golden duck in the second.
“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 give a farewell, leading on the field. Even if it is for 15-20 minutes, why not!” concluded Dhoni.
Ganguly, who was India’s most successful captain during his time and an opening batsman, played 113 Tests and scored 7212 runs at an average of 42.17, including 16 hundreds and 35 fifties.
He also played 311 ODIs, scoring a mammoth 11,363 runs at an average of 41.02. He scored 22 hundreds and 72 fifties in the 50-over format.
