By IANS
London : Sourav Ganguly, who stormed his way back into the Indian cricket team after being dropped unceremoniously, feels the worst is over in his mercurial and volatile cricketing career.
In an interview with The Guardian newspaper published Thursday, he also called England “a beatable side.”
“It was tough being out,” he told newspaper, adding: “No cricketer wants to go this way. Today it’s me, tomorrow it could be anybody else. I had to live with it every day. It’s not easy switching on a television every day and seeing yourself being talked about, seeing shows that your career is over.”
“Obviously, it hurt. Even my father would tell me, ‘Just forget it, you don’t need to do this’. I told him, ‘Let’s see if I’m good enough. I’ve seen the best part of a cricketer’s life, let’s see if I can get through this’.”
Ganguly feels good to be returning to England, where he announced himself with a century on Test debut at Lord’s in 1996 and where he has maintained his best batting record since. Yet he is aware that with every innings he could be playing for his place.
“It’s possible that can happen. But when I came back into the side, I had huge pressure on me. I survived that. Then I survived the pressure of coming back into the one-day team. I don’t think any pressure can be more than that,” feels the Bengal batsman.
Ganguly dismissed British media reports about his alleged arrogant behaviour.
“It’s a strategy they’ve learnt from the Aussies – to put the visiting captain under pressure,” Ganguly said. “But the good thing is that unlike in India, they don’t put newspapers under your door in hotels abroad, so you’re not even aware of these things. Anyway, I’m not captain now. Probably it’ll be slightly different this time.”
“See, Flintoff thought I was aloof because I didn’t drink with them [his former Lancashire county colleagues] after the match. I never used to enjoy drinking. So I used to have my Coke and leave. Plus I had my wife at home. For a county game I had to leave at 8.30 in the morning and come back at 8 at night. Dona was alone the whole day – she knew nobody in Manchester. Girl alone at home – we’ve grown up in a different way.”
Ganguly had words of praise for his former opposite number form England, Nasser Hussain, saying he was “the best English captain I’ve seen. His strategies, his aggression, the way he handled bowlers, the way he set fields for different people.”
He said that while current England skipper Michael Vaughan, has a “fabulous” record, “he’s reaping the benefits of what Nasser did.”
“[Kevin] Pietersen is brilliant, going to be a great I think. Monty [Panesar], he’s from my county, Northants, he’ll walk into any side in the world. England are a good side,” he added.
“But we’re lucky that Flintoff is not fit. I think he makes a huge difference to the English team. It’s a beatable side. But Flintoff will really be missed. I’ve seen Michael Vaughan captaining the team differently without Flintoff.”