Former India captain Sourav Ganguly said that it was originally an accident that resulted in him making his Australian counterpart Steve Waugh famously wait for the toss.
Ganguly said he left his blazer in the dressing room but also saw that this little incident had an effect on the Australian camp.
“It was working on them, working on the team, and how they went about their jobs. They were a bit grumpy with all that and it worked for us as we won the series 2-1,” the BCCI president said in a chat with India opener Mayank Agarwal on bcci.tv.
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Ganguly also said he was against playing four-day Tests, proposed by the world governing body as a way to squeeze more cricket into a packed calendar.
The International Cricket Council has floated the idea of reducing matches in the World Test Championship by one day from 2023, but Ganguly said officials should not “tinker” with what he calls the best form of cricket.
Four-day Tests have been tried in one-off games between South Africa and Zimbabwe and England against Ireland, but the BCCI is among a growing list of critics.
“I am not a big fan of four-day cricket because I feel lot of Test matches will not finish,” Ganguly, who turned 48 on Wednesday, said in an online chat hosted by the BCCI.
“When you have four days the approach is different,” he said.
“I really feel that there is no need to tinker with those five-day Test matches. And for me Test matches are the toughest and the best form of cricket.”
Ganguly, who is rumoured to be in the running for the post of ICC chairman, backs other innovations, however, including day-night Tests.
India, who refused to play a Test under floodlights in Australia in 2018, joined the pink-ball party against Bangladesh in Kolkata last year.
The final Test of a two-match series attracted packed crowds at Eden Gardens despite the Test lasting less than three whole days. India won the series 2-0.
“Day-night cricket, one Test a series is important, because cricket needs everyone back,” said the former India captain.
“We played that pink Test in Kolkata, I don’t think if it was a normal India-Bangladesh Test match we would have one tenth of the people,” he said, noting that 150,000 people attended over three days played.
Ganguly was also asked by Agarwal who he thought would take off the shirt (like the former did at Lord’s after the 2002 Natwest final) from the current crop of players:
“All of you,” came the reply from Ganguly.
“This generation is a completely different generation. I see all of your involvement on Instagram. Obviously, when we were growing up, there was no social media.
“I love the way how they train with their cameras on. Whether they are doing the bench press or whether they are doing pushups, everything is out there in the public.
“So, I would have been surprised if anyone would have not agreed to do so. In my generation, only two were ready to do it - myself and Harbhajan Singh,”
Ganguly also spoke about the five players he will pick from current Test squad into his team. The former captain, while adding the caveat that he was against comparing different generations, said he was making this selection on a lighter note. He chose Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami and R Ashwin.
You can watch the full conversation here:
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