Picture Credit: Twitter
There is little doubt that BCCI President Sourav Ganguly and current head coach of the Indian cricket team share a great camaraderie with each other since their playing days. For an entire generation who grew up learning and watching the sport in the early 2000s, their best memory is of Ganguly leading the side and Dravid being his deputy, leading in his absence.
Later Dravid too had a fairly successful stint as a captain. And now years after the two have hung up their cricketing boots, the two are once again at the forefront of Indian cricket in different capacities.
While Ganguly took his leadership experience into cricket administration and is currently leading the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), Dravid has built an enviable portfolio in coaching and was almost an automatic pick for the position of the head coach as soon as he applied for the post.
Dravid's son called me saying dad needed to be taken away: Ganguly
And now at the sidelines of an event, Ganguly gave a glimpse to the world of the friendship he shares with The Wall. He jokingly explained what led to him calling up Dravid and offering him the role of the head coach of the senior national men's team.
"I got a call from Rahul Dravid's son saying his father was being too strict with him and that he needed to be taken away. That's when I called Rahul and told him that it was time for him to join the national team," Ganguly said at a book fair.
For those who have been unable to follow the recent developments, Ravi Shastri's tenure as Team India head coach has ended after the T20 World Cup and it is Dravid who has taken over. The 48-year-old's first assignment in charge of the team will be the home series against New Zealand comprising of 3 T20Is and two Test matches.
Meanwhile, Virat Kohli has also stepped down as the T20I skipper and it is Rohit Sharma who will replace him at the helm of affairs in T20Is. The new style partnership of Rohit and Rahul would look to now take India to an ICC trophy, the only box which the duo of Virat Kohli and Ravi Shastri failed to tick during their tenure.