MS Dhoni recently reflected on his gesture of asking Sourav Ganguly to lead the Indian team briefly during his farewell Test against Australia in 2008.
As Ganguly played his final Test in Nagpur, having already announced his retirement, Dhoni offered him a chance to captain the team once more in the closing moments.
Speaking at a promotional event, Dhoni shared, “Being one of the greatest captains India has ever produced, what better farewell can you give from your side? On the last day of his career, standing on the Test field, if he can say ‘goodbye’ while leading for a while, then why not? It doesn’t really change the result of the game—that was the reason behind it.”
India won the match by 172 runs, securing the series 2-0. Reflecting on whether Ganguly enjoyed the surprise moment, Dhoni added, “I don’t know whether he enjoyed it because it came all of a sudden. It wasn’t planned. I thought this was the best way for him to say farewell, even if just for 15-20 minutes.”
Ganguly retired with an impressive record, having played 113 Tests, scoring 7,212 runs at an average of 42.17, and featuring in 311 ODIs with 11,363 runs, including 22 centuries and 72 fifties.