'You made Andrew Flintoff bowl bouncers at me and I kept telling Sachin…': Ganguly, Hussain revive famous banter

Years later, Sourav Ganguly and Nasser Hussain, part of the same broadcasting panel, recalled their duel from the Leeds Test in 2002.

There is no shortage of history between Sourav Ganguly and Nasser Hussain. From being rivals to counterparts and now broadcasting partners, the two former international captains felt a plethora for each other. Hussain had once famously quoted how he hated Ganguly's guts as the ex-India captain repeatedly made him wait for the toss. The two had several individual battles as well – the 2001 series when Hussain made Ashley Giles bowl a 'negative' line to Sachin Tendulkar outside the leg stump, a tactic that did not please Ganguly – to go with India's famous Natwest Trophy win in 2002 when Ganguly gave it back to Andrew Flintoff and Hussain by taking off his shirt and swinging it in the Lord's balcony.

Sourav Ganguly and Nasser Hussain had quite the banter again. (Getty Images)

The tri-series involving Sri Lanka was just a precursor of what was to come – a four Test series, which India and England drew 1-1. After England won the Lord's Test by 170 runs, India levelled up by a thumping innings and 46 run victory at Headingley – the only instance when their fabled trio of Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and Ganguly scored centuries in the same innings of a Test match. Ganguly's 128, Dravid's 148 and Tendulkar's 193 got India to 628/8 declared, a total which England failed to match in both innings combined as Anil Kumble's match-haul of 7 wickets.

Years later, Ganguly and Hussain, part of the broadcasting panel during the World Test Championship final between India and Australia at The Oval recalled their duel from the Leeds Test. Recalling his love affair with England – he scored 915 runs from nine Tests including three centuries at an average of 65.35 – Ganguly's mind harked back to when Hussain erred in his tactics to dismiss the former India captain.

Ganguly: "I had a good amount of success in this country because Nass kept bowling short at me all the time."

Hussain: "You got me out." (laughs)

Ganguly: "Because I pitched it up (Sarcastically). I remember in Headingly it was a green seamer and Nass, you were the captain. You made Freddie Flintoff bowl short and bounders at me, and I kept telling Sachin 'Let him bowl that length'. Because the difficult length was the one that was pitched up."

Ganguly then opened up on why he succeeded in England. It is interesting to note than Ganguly's record in England is way better than Ajinkya Rahane, Cheteshwar Pujara. From the current lot of active Indian players, only Virat Kohli has a slightly better record in England (976 runs from 15 Tests). Ganguly toured England in three different phases of his career – first in 1996 making his debut with a iconic century at Lord's – then in 2002 as captain of the team and lastly in 2007 – where he was part of India's famous Test series win in England after 21 years. Each time, as Ganguly revealed, he was in a different space… and adapting to it is the key to succeeding in England.

"You play for a while; you learn to play good knocks. It depends; there is no hard and fast rule. The only thing is that you keep training and you make sure that you're in touch and in a good position when you play Test cricket. Different times, differently. It depended on how my mind was, how confident I felt about your cricket. You practice differently when you play well, you try and keep your energy for the game. When you're not playing well, you keep hitting balls in the nets. In this sport confidence matters a lot," Ganguly said during the mid-session show on Star Sports.