Sourav Ganguly-Virat Kohli partnership: Former captain opens up on his India coach role that never was

Former captain Sourav Ganguly revealed on Friday, November 24, that he had desperately wanted to become the coach of the Indian cricket team.

The 45-year-old, who retired from international cricket, added how fate had other ideas for him: He was appointed Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) president following the demise of former Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) president Jagmohan Dalmiya in 2015.

Ganguly called it quits from all forms of cricket following the Indian Premier League match between Pune Warriors and his former side Kolkata Knight Riders in 2012.

The legendary batsman donned the role of a commentator before entering the world of cricket administration in 2014, when he was appointed joint secretary of the CAB.

Also read: Sourav Ganguly likens Virat Kohli to Sachin Tendulkar, Sunil Gavaskar; here's why

Ganguly added he wanted to try out the role of administrator upon Dalmiya's insistence, but was always yearning for the head coach role in the Indian cricket team. He also shed light on how he was unexpectedly made captain of the team early in his career.

Notably, the "Prince of Kolkata" took over as captain after the infamous match-fixing scandal of 1999. He seemed to have relished the pressure and played an aggressive brand of cricket.

India began winning matches abroad under his influential leadership, and started challenging top teams, including Australia.

"When I got into administration, I was desperate to be the coach of the national side. Jagmohan Dalmiya said, 'Why you don't you try for six months.' He passed away and no one was around, so I became CAB president. People take 20 years to become president. You have to live for the day," Ganguly said while speaking at the India Today Conclave East 2017 in Kolkata.

He added: "You never know where life goes, you never know where life will take you. I went to Australia in 1999, I wasn't even the vice-captain. Sachin (Tendulkar) was captain and in three months I became the captain of India."

Despite not getting an opportunity to work with Virat Kohli and MS Dhoni, Ganguly was part of the BCCI-appointed Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC) that oversaw the appointment of Anil Kumble (in 2016) and Ravi Shastri (in 2017) as coach of the Indian team.