Former India captain and current BCCI president Sourav Ganguly has been a busy man for the past few weeks. It was under his watchful eyes and able leadership that Eden Gardens in Kolkata hosted Team India's first Day/Night Test, against Bangladesh on November 22.
It was nothing short of an extravaganza. The stadium and the city landmarks all around it were draped in pink. The dignitaries included Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. Indian cricket’s best—Kapil Dev, Dilip Vengsarkar, Mohammed Azharuddin, Sachin Tendulkar, Anil Kumble, Rahul Dravid, V.V.S. Laxman, Shantha Rangaswamy, Jhulan Goswami and Mithali Raj, along with bevy of former Bangladesh cricketers graced the occasion. Lunch time saw Ganguly’s teammates—Tendulkar, Kumble, Harbhajan Singh and Laxman—enthralling the spectators with anecdotes from their playing days.
The cricket, however, left a lot to be desired, as Bangladesh caved in inside three days. India won their first pink-ball Test by an innings and 46 runs. Perhaps, that explained Ganguly's less-than-amused look in the picture he shared on Instagram post the match.
While fans showered their love and appreciation for their 'Dada', his daughter Sana commented, “What is it that you are not liking?”, referring to his expression. Ganguly joined in the banter, saying, “that ur becoming so disobedient”. Sana, however, had the last laugh, remarking she is “learning from you”!
Following the success of the pink-ball Test, Ganguly had said he was “relaxed, relieved and happy”.
“We wanted to do this for Test cricket. It is so important. People were not turning up for Test cricket. We did a lot of things (promotion) during and before this Test. It was sold out all throughout even today though the game was expected to finish early.”
Though Team India captain Virat Kohli welcomed the Day/Night Test, he said that it cannot be the only way to keep the long format of the game going.
