Kolkata, June 24: He is the owner of 38 fantastic centuries in international cricket, but that number is not pleasing to former India skipper Sourav Ganguly, who regrets missing many hundreds during his cricketing journey.The elegant left-hander of his times, Ganguly scored 18,575 runs in Test and ODIs but regrets missing many centuries in his career in which he competed in 311 ODIs and 113 Tests.
Ganguly’s remorse came to fore when he was asked what advise he would give to his old self.
“I missed a lot of hundreds, I should have scored more. Too many 90s and 80s,” Ganguly said in an interaction.
A look at his statistics showed that Ganguly got out in the 80s and 90s a number of times. Exact 30 times.
If he could convert those innings into centuries he would have easily scored 50-plus centuries in his already glorious career.
He loves watching his old innings, his stroke-play whenever he is alone and it further reminds him how close he was to getting more hundreds.
“I see my (batting) videos when I am alone. When my wife is away because Sana lives in London, I go to Youtube, and watch old matches and say ‘arre phir 70 pe out ho gaya’ (Gosh, I got out in 70s in this also), should have scored a hundred. But you can’t change it. “
In ODIs, Ganguly had 72 half centuries and in Test the number stands at 35.
As a skipper, sometimes a tough call becomes imperative. You have to drop a player to accommodate someone who you think is more suited for conditions or requirement.
Ganguly regretted dropping Anil Kumble, one of the greatest leg spinners in the world, a number of times during his captaincy.
“Anil Kumble, a few times, because he was so good,” he said.
Asked if the ICC should look at the proliferation of the T20 Leagues across the world to curb the players’ temptation to ply their trade in high-paying T20 tournaments, Ganguly said probably it is difficult to change.
Nicholas Pooran and Heinrich Klassen recently quit and Ganguly was surprised.
“They do regulate but I don’t know how you stop Test playing nations from having their own leagues.”