India’s Test match against Australia in November 2008 at Nagpur was a momentous occasion for Indian cricket. It was the day when former skipper Sourav Ganguly made his final international appearance for India. Ganguly had announced before the match that it would be his final game for the country. But the big moment in the match came when Ganguly stepped out on to the field on the final day of the game. India were in a commanding position in the match by Lunch as Australia had lost three wickets and still needed 271 more to win. As Ganguly came out on the field, the Indian team gave him a guard of honour and welcomed him to the ground.
Speaking to India batsman Mayank Agarwal in the latest episode of his chat show ‘Open Nets with Mayank’ uploaded on BCCI official website, Ganguly recalled his final Test.
In one of the segments of the interview, Mayank was showing Ganguly some photos from his career, and was asking him to recognise when that particular event took place. Ganguly was quick to recognise the photo which featured the Indian team giving him the guard of honour as he was entering the field.
“My last Test match in Nagpur. It was the last day, last session. I was walking down the steps at the Vidarbha Stadium. They (my teammates) stood beside me and allowed me to enter the ground,” Ganguly said.
Mayank, then went on to ask Ganguly about the moment when the, then, captain MS Dhoni gave him the captaincy in the final stages of the match. Recalling the same, Ganguly said that he was not expecting the gesture.
“That (handing over captaincy) was a bit of a surprise. I didn’t expect it. But MS Dhoni being MS Dhoni, he is full of surprises like his captaincy. We were winning the Test match and my mind was on retirement. I don’t know what I did for those 3, 4 overs,” Ganguly said.
India went on to beat Australia convincingly by 172 runs in the match, as Ganguly bid an emotional farewell to Indian cricket.
