When Dada revealed he became a cricketer by 'accident'

"Football was my life. I was very good at it till Class IX," Sourav Ganguly had said

The Indian cricket administrator, commentator, and former national cricket team captain, Sourav Ganguly, who is one of India’s most prolific ODI openers, turns 49 today.

Dada, as he is lovingly called, has earned 11,363 runs and 22 ODI hundreds. On his birthday, here’s an incident where the Maharaja of Indian cricket revealed that he became a cricketer by ‘accident’.

While interacting online with the learners on the ‘Unacademy app’, he revealed that football was his favourite sport and he was very good at it. His father put him into a cricket academy during his summer holidays.

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“Football was my life. I was very good at it till Class IX. During one summer vacation, my father (late Chandi Ganguly, who was in the Cricket Association of Bengal) told me you’re doing nothing at home, go and practice. He put me in a cricket academy,” the current BCCI boss said.

“I loved going there because it kept me away from home and my parents, my brothers, my family, who were very disciplined. For me, this was a time away from them. I don’t know what my coach saw in me; he told my father you should take him out of football. So I got into cricket,” he added.

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Under Ganguly’s leadership, India beat Australia in the Test series in 2001 and then won the 2002 Natwest Trophy against England.

India also reached the 2003 ODI World Cup final, drew against England in the Test series in 2004, and even defeated Pakistan in a Test series in 2005 when Ganguly was captain.