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This team will not yield an inch: Ganguly
April 30, 2004 16:30 IST
The Indian cricket team has become a well-knit, combative unit that will not give an inch on the field, skipper Sourav Ganguly said in an exclusive interview to BBC World.
"For the last two or three years," Ganguly said, "you've got a crop of young boys who fight on the cricket field. I've never been a person who would stop them from competing, obviously within the rules, fight hard on the cricket field because that's the way you are going to win."
To buttress his point, the 'Prince of Calcutta' said, "People talk about Rahul [Dravid], they say he's a quiet guy. He stays on his own. But he's pretty aggressive. If you see him on the cricket field he won't give you an inch, whether he's fielding or whether he's batting.
"I think it's the whole unit. You watch their body language you know, they'll be hard on the opposition."
The interview is being telecast on BBC World's Asia Today programme on Friday and is part of the Modern Indian Maharajas series.
Ganguly admitted that he is still embarrassed by the incident after the NatWest final at Lord's almost two years ago when he took off his shirt, twirled it over his head and flung it out the players' balcony.
Ganguly said he did that in the heat of the moment and is unlikely to ever repeat it, but he doesn't bother too much about it.
He said the recent series win in Pakistan was very special because it was the first Test series the team had won outside India ever since he began playing in the national side in 1996.
"N
o other series in the world, even Australia plays England in the Ashes series, is as big as this," he said. "You know, it's just not cricket. You know, the involvement of people outside cricket is enormous. And you saw it during the one-day series, the last two games in Lahore. Ten to twelve thousand people from India landed up to watch the game."Despite all the money that he earns today from the game and from endorsements and advertisements, Ganguly said his biggest motivation is to play for the country because that is what he wanted to do in life.
The skipper, who had a poor run of form until recently, said he tries to focus by remembering the good times and the good knocks. "You are one of the lucky few," he said. "So you know it's a new day. And I've always believed that, you know, it just takes you one evening to be famous."