Former India captain Sourav Ganguly revealed that he had personally asked Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, and Anil Kumble whether they had ever been approached for match-fixing during one of the darkest phases in Indian cricket.
Speaking on a podcast with Raj Shamani, Ganguly recalled the turbulent period around 2000, when Indian cricket was rocked by allegations of betting and match-fixing involving several international cricketers.
The scandal severely damaged the credibility of the sport, with former South Africa captain Hansie Cronje becoming one of the central figures, while former India players Mohammad Azharuddin and Ajay Jadeja were also implicated.
Ganguly, who took over the Indian captaincy at the age of 27 following the controversy, said he himself was unaware of how widespread the issue was and tried to understand the situation by speaking directly to senior teammates.
“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.
Indian cricket was going through a major transition at the time. Azharuddin had been handed a life ban, while Jadeja received a five-year suspension. Ganguly was entrusted with rebuilding not only the team but also public faith in Indian cricket after the scandal had shaken fans across the country.
The former India skipper admitted that stepping into leadership so early in his career was intimidating, especially because he had to captain senior players under whom he had previously played.
“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.
Under Ganguly’s captaincy, India entered a new era and emerged as a strong force in world cricket. India began performing consistently overseas, drew the 2003-04 Border-Gavaskar Trophy series in Australia, won a historic Test series in Pakistan, lifted the NatWest Trophy in 2002 and shared the ICC Champions Trophy title the same year.
Ganguly is widely credited for rebuilding the Indian side after the fixing scandal and backing a new generation of cricketers who went on to shape one of the most successful periods in Indian cricket history.
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