Former Indian batsman VVS Laxman has revealed details of the early days when Sourav Ganguly took charge as a cricket administrator. Before being appointed the 39th president of BCCI, Ganguly kicked off his administrative journey as the joint secretary of Cricket Association of Bengal in 2014. Laxman said how Ganguly, his former India captain had to shed his image of a star and take charge in his new office.
"I came here as a batting consultant, and Sourav was joint secretary at that time. When I entered his room, his small room shocked me. He is the most successful captain of Indian cricket. It surprised and inspired me. You forget that you are a legend of world cricket, you are a prince of Kolkata and a blue-eyed boy. He was fulfilling the role of joint secretary," Laxman said while speaking on the stage flanked by Ganguly and Azhar in Kolkata.
NCA would be Ganguly's biggest challenge
Laxman also said that one of Ganguly's biggest challenges as an administrator would be to revive the National Cricket Academy.
The former middle-order batsman also said that India's domestic setup was the reason behind the strength of the current team and this should be the focus in the days to come. It was the reason he wanted the NCA to be as strong as possible as it could be the feeder system for the Indian team.
"The greatness of this Indian team is their bench strength. You look at this South Africa side and it is the most depleted I have seen. This is because their domestic structure is not strong. The reason why the Indian team is doing well is because the domestic structure is so good. Through the NCA, you can produce future champions for a long period of time. Whenever rotation is required, you can come and replace established players," Laxman said.
Laxman went on to say that he was thrilled with the fact that Ganguly is the BCCI president as he was responsible to revive Indian cricket when he took over as the captain back in 2000s. "The way he revived the fortunes of the Indian cricket team, gave them security, Indian cricket did not look back since then. A leader becomes inspiring when he leads by example," Laxman said.
