Former India captain Sourav Ganguly on Saturday said he had deliberately walked out late for a toss during the Test series against Australia in 2001 because he wanted to drill home a point.
"It was not until the team meeting that we came to know that while [Javagal] Srinath was walking out after 7 overs during the one day game that the Australian coach had made some remarks like " Why are you out". We decided to send a message and hence I decided to turn up late for the toss and make the Australian captain wait," Ganguly told reporters in New Delhi.
"We wanted to tell them we were in India and we could manage thing. This happened in the 2001 series in India. When we went to Australian in 2003, Steve Waugh said 'I hope you would turn up in time' and my reply was that if he behaves well it would be okay," Ganguly added.
The left-hander rates Brain Lara as the best captain in the recently-concluded ICC Champions Trophy and named Sachin Tendulkar and Lara as the two most outstanding players ever to have played cricket.
Ganguly said that he believes that the captain is as good as the team and a good captain cannot achieve anything without his players who are key for the implementation of his strategies.
Asked why he removed the shirt and waved in the crowd, Ganguly said that people tend to forget that he also made some runs amidst laughter from the audience.
The left-hander said that he is confident of making a comeback into the Indian team soon.
"But it would depend upon the performance of the current team under the leadership of Rahul Dravid," he added.
He categorically stated that the person who should call the shots on the field can only be the captain and not the coach.
"A lot of statements may have been made by Greg Chappell out of anger. I am ready to forget and forgive. In fact I am not sulking at all. You should not take an advertisement seriously," he said.
