Former India captain Sourav Ganguly has said that making debut in the Ranji Trophy final is “probably” the best moment of life. Batting at No. 4, Sourav Ganguly scored 22 runs on his Ranji Trophy debut.
“At 17-18 years, making a Ranji Trophy debut that too in the final… It was probably the best moment of my life,” Ganguly said in his address during a felicitation of the 25 years of the Ranji Trophy triumph. The whole thing of winning the Ranji Trophy was very very special,” a nostalgic Ganguly said.
Ganguly, who scored over 18,000 runs in his international career, said he was very nervous on his debut and he had to overcome his nervousness after the first two balls.
“Honestly, the first two balls hit the bat before I could realise and react. Then I gathered myself overcoming the nervousness. I played a few shots just after seeing the ball.”
From winning Test matches in India to taking India to the final of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2003, Ganguly picked his Ranji Trophy debut against Delhi, as his best moment and this speaks volumes about the kind of importance Ranji Trophy had in his cricketing career. Ganguly said he was delighted to play alongside some of his favourite players and he was very excited to know that Sambaran Banerjee will be his first captain. Ganguly also added that he still considers Banerjee as his captain.
“It was my first opportunity to play with many renowned players whom I’d seen from the sidelines until then. The likes of Ashok Malhotra, Arun Lal, Utpal Chatterjee and my elder brother Snehasish… I used to see their practice from behind. I came to know about it on the eve of the match from our skipper Sambaran Banerjee, whom I still consider my captain. That excitement. It’s very hard to explain what happened afterwards. It was like a fairy tale.”
