The month of July is extremely special when it comes to Indian cricket and the number of Test players and captains they have produced for the national side. MS Dhoni celebrates his birthday on 7th July, the little master Sunil Gavaskar celebrates his birthday on 10th July, and the former India captain, the God of off-side, and the current BCCI president Sourav Ganguly celebrates his birthday on July 8.
The BCCI president is stationed in London as of now for India's ongoing tour in England. With the one-off Test match which concluded recently, the men in blue have now geared up for their white ball series which includes 3 T20Is and 3ODIs. Sourav Ganguly will celebrate his 50th birthday and this time around he has been joined by his old mate and former India player, Sachin Tendulkar. As far as Sachin's association with Ganguly is considered, the both of them have known each other for more than three decades now, from the start of their under 17 days.
According to Sachin, his bond with Sourav has stood the test of time, and even after they have stopped playing, they share a great relationship that started from the time they used to walk out for India. When asked about the BCCI president's captaincy stint for India and how much freedom he imparted to the team, Sachin did not hold his horses back and dished out lavish praises in the honor of his old mate.
"Sourav was a great captain. He knew how to maintain a balance between giving freedom to the players and giving them certain responsibilities. When he took over, Indian cricket was still in a transition phase. We needed the next bunch of players who could set a platform for propelling India forward" said the little master.
The BCCI president during his captaincy stint picked players and mentored them under him and as a result, they played a pivotal role in India winning two World Cups under the leadership of MS Dhoni in 2007 and 2011. Tendulkar also feels that Ganguly unearthed a lot of world-class talent with the likes of Virender Sehwag, Yuvraj Singh, Zaheer Khan, Harbhajan Singh, Ashish Nehra, and many more.
While Sourav sowed the seeds of two major World Championships in players who fetched the results for team India by winning two World Cups, Sachin on the other hand accompanied all of them and ensured that he wins the ultimate cricketing glory before he steps down from all forms of international cricket.
