‘Sachin wanted to concentrate on batting’: How Sourav Ganguly was appointed India captain, former selector explains

Former chief selector Chandu Borde narrated how current BCCI president Sourav Ganguly was appointed as India captain when Sachin Tendulkar stood down and wanted to concentrate on his batting.

Former BCCI chairman of selectors Chandu Borde has revealed how Sachin Tendulkar’s reluctance in continuing as captain of the Indian cricket team paved the way for Sourav Ganguly’s appointment as their new leader. The year was early 2000 and India had just returned from an abysmal tour of Australia where they were blanked 0-3 in Tests and won just one out of 14 games in the tri-series.

31 Mar 2001: Saurav Ganguly captain of India (left) and Steve Waugh captain of Australia (right) cross paths, during the 3rd One Day International between India and Australia, played at Nehru Stadium, Indore, India. X DIGITAL IMAGE Mandatory Credit: (Getty Images)

Even though Tendulkar emerged as the highest run-getter for India in the Test series Down Under, he wasn’t convinced with his performance and hence wanted to step down as India’s captain so he could put all his focus towards batting. Tendulkar agreed to captain in the two-Test series against South Africa at home, which would turn out to be his last match as India captain.

“See, if you remember, Sachin, we had sent him as a captain to Australia, and he led the side there, but when he came back, he didn’t want to continue,” Borde told SportsKeeda. “He said, ‘No, I want to concentrate on my batting.’ Therefore, I tried to convince him to lead the side for a long time because we were on the lookout for a new captain, a new generation.”

In 1996, Tendulkar was appointed India’s 26th Test captain, but despite a promising start to his captaincy, the batsman could not carry the same momentum forward. Tendulkar led India in 25 Tests, of which they won four and lost nine. In ODIs, it was even worse with India winning just 23 of the 73 games Tendulkar led, while losing 43 matches.

After South Africa had whitewashed India 0-2 at home, with the ODIs approaching, Tendulkar had had enough and the management turned to Sourav Ganguly as man to lead the team into the new millennium.

“But he said, ‘I want to concentrate on my batting because I could not get the performance that I wanted to put in for the team.’ And this is what happened,” Borde added. “So, in fact, some of my colleagues were annoyed with me. They said, ‘Why are you insisting him to continue all the time!’ I said we are looking forward to the future, but then in the end we had selected Ganguly.”