It was 2003 cricket world cup. My whole family would be glued to television. Back then I was no big a fan of cricket. I used to get updates of the matches that India played. Rarely would I see India batting. It was one such day that India vs Kenya match was going on and India was batting. Sourav was on strike and don’t know whether it was coincidence, he hit two consecutive sixes the moment I saw 😛 There was my hero. Suddenly he became the person of my dreams. I turned out to be an avid cricket fan just because of Ganguly.
From then I started collecting pictures of him from newspapers and other magazines. I would be the first to read any article that was written about him. I was caught several times by my mom for gaping at his pictures for long hours in a day. I have been teased an infinite number of times by my cousins whenever he got out on a duck. There would be a fight among our friends about who was best: Sourav, Dravid or Sachin. Unfortunately, Sourav had the least supporters, but we would never give him up. But whatever it is, I have always been an ardent Ganguly fan.
And this particular match, that took place in England, where the England team had scored a 360 and India had to chase this score. It was the last over and it got interesting as there was equal probability of both teams to win the match and there was Ganguly in the dressing room, biting his nails! When India had won the match he took off his shirt, waving it and running around the stadium! He was the most successful captain who had won many matches for India (Though, Dhoni holds this spot now). After all those controversies with Greg Chappell and all that stuff he still strived to retain his position in the team. He never gave up that easily although he could have done that given his financial background. His love for cricket was clearly shown. All this made me an even bigger fan.
And to meet my childhood sweetheart has always been my dream, which is yet to come true!
My Experiments with pen 
Dada! A salute to the best captain! And Abhi, a neatly written article. Good job!
I still remember the 2003 WC finals and I still cry whenever I think of it.
And also Ganguly rocks the commentary box now with all his witty comments and counters to Harsha Bhogle’s talks. This fun side of Dada is a treat to watch.
P.S. I’m a Dravid fan, and all the things you wrote like collecting pictures and gaping at photos, I used to do too, with pictures of Dravid. I still do!
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