'Tujhe kisi ne poocha?': Sourav Ganguly reveals conversation with Sachin Tendulkar amid match-fixing scandal

Former India captain Sourav Ganguly revealed that he asked Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, and Anil Kumble if they were approached for match-fixing during the darkest phase of Indian cricket. Ganguly became the Indian captain in 2000 after Sachin Tendulkar resigned following the shocking match-fixing scandal involving several cricketers. Ganguly said he wasn't aware of the issues the Indian team faced before he became the captain and directly asked the senior players to understand the situation.

“The issues that the Indian team faced just before I became captain – betting, match-fixing – I didn’t even know about these things. I kept asking Sachin [Tendulkar] and Rahul [Dravid] ‘Does it actually happen?’ Has anyone approached you? Because no one had approached me. So, I spoke to Sachin, ‘Tujhe kisi ne puucha?’ He said no. We all used to play both formats – Tests and one-dayers. Asked Anil [Kumble] too, He said ‘No. Nobody asked me’. So, I wasn’t too sure what it even was. That [captaincy] was a job in hand. So, I didn’t have these things in mind,” Ganguly said while speaking on a podcast with Raj Shamani.

Ganguly had a tall task in front of him. Leading a team with so many big names was no joke, but he aced his responsibilities, taking Indian cricket to great heights, including success overseas. Ganguly admitted that leading with so many legends was intimidating.

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“I still remember our first match was in Kochi. On the eve of the game, I had to address the team meeting. I told Dona that many of these guys – Azhar, Sachin – had been my captains. How was I supposed to tell them what to do and what not to do? I still remember telling her I would keep the meeting short because the longer it went on, the more I’d have to speak. So we wrapped it up in about 15 minutes, and I quickly got a few things across. The next day, we won. In the following match in Jamshedpur, I scored a hundred. Slowly, everything started falling into place,” he added.

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