Mumbai: Former India skipper Sourav Ganguly and former England skipper Nasser Hussain have had quite a few epic battles on the cricket pitch and while they are both good friends off it, the former English captain has admitted that he hated the Indian skipper for making him wait at the toss. But with time Nasser has realised that the current BCCI President is a lovely person.
Speaking on Star Sports show Cricket Connected, former England captain Nasser Hussain spoke about his Team India counterpart back then. “I have always said, and this is a generalisation, but I have always said about Ganguly, that he made India a tougher side. So, before Ganguly, there was very talented side, but you felt they were also a nice side � very down to earth, would meet you with morning greetings, morning Nasser, it was a very pleasant experience.
“Playing against a Ganguly side, you knew you were in a battle, you knew that Ganguly understood the passion of Indian cricket fans and it wasn’t just a game of cricket. It was more important than a game of cricket. He was feisty and he picked feisty cricketers whether it would be Harbhajan or Yuvraj or whoever � feisty in your face cricketers � that when you met him away from the game, were lovely, nice. Sourav’s like that.
“When I played against Sourav, I hated him, he used to make me wait for the toss every single time and I’ll be like, Ganguly, it’s 10.30, we have to toss. But now I work with him for the last decade on commentary, he’s such a nice, calm, he’s still late for his commentary stints, but he is a lovely bloke. And that’s the way cricketers should be. When you play with him or against him, you don’t like him and when you meet up with him later in life, they’re nice people.”