Collision of thoughts is common on and off the field in the Indian Cricket team. Allegations and counter allegations are part of the game. In a recent incident, former Indian skipper Sourav Ganguly took a jibe at Ravi Shastri saying that he is not the person one should prefer to talk to in the morning.
Ganguly was reacting to Shastri’s comments, made during his interview with Gaurav Kapur in ‘Breakfast with Champions’, in which he claimed that the team left Ganguly in Bangladesh as he was late. Shastri had added that he is very punctual and values time. He said, “I take pride in being punctual. It is a great quality. In our team, punctuality is paramount. The bus leaves at nine, it will leave at nine.”
He also mentioned an incident while adding, “Only once I had to take the bus early in Bangladesh in 2007. In Chittagong, we were supposed to leave at nine and it got to nine. I said, ‘let’s go’. The local managers and all said, Dada nahi aaya (Dada hasn’t come yet). I said, Dada ayega gadi mein. Chalo. (Dada will take the car. Let us leave).”
Reminded about this by Kapur, Sourav called Shastri an alcoholic and said that he shouldn’t be taken seriously. He advised Kapur not to interview Shastri in the morning. He said, “You don’t interview him in the morning, don’t bring him (Shastri) on the breakfast show. He wouldn’t remember what he said. When I meet him, I will tell him what do you say on the breakfast show that never happened. I don’t know where he got that from. But don’t interview him in the morning, do it in the evening he will be able to recall things better.”(sic)
The tiff between the two jewels of the Indian cricket has been going on for long, as the two reportedly do not share a good equation. It was also reported that Shastri had blamed Ganguly, a member of Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC), when he failed to become the head coach of Indian Cricket team in 2016.