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Many say that the personal should believe in his or her abilities to achieve something rather than depending on some superstition. The ‘God of offside’ aka former Indian captain and current Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) President Sourav Ganguly believed in superstitions too in an attempt to have stroke of luck by his side. The Price of Kolkata relied on superstitions and kept something special inside his pocket.
The secret guru’s photograph
Ganguly was technically sound during his prime and had cricket running through his veins. He is considered one of the best captains India have had in the history of the sport. While he trusted in his technique to face menacing fast bowlers in unfavourable conditions, he also had a photo of his guru whenever he walked out to bat.
It is still unknown who Ganguly’s guru was but it helped him dictate terms in the field several times during his 12-year-long career. During his illustrious career, he scored a total of 38 centuries in international arena. The southpaw scored 26 more centuries in domestic cricket. In the red-ball format he scored 7,212 runs and 11,363 runs in ODIs.
To shave or not to shave
Many players have their pre-match rituals. Some wear one item of clothing first or do things a certain way. For Ganguly, the trick was not to shave during the five days of a Test to end up on the winning side. On the other hand, Dada always took the field in ODIs after shaving. In addition, a religious Ganguly would wear chains around his neck and rings in his fingers to have some luck on his side. All the chains and rings were visible when Ganguly took off his jersey and waved it in the Lord’s balcony after India’s historic win in NatWest Trophy 2002 final.
While these superstitions did not always guarantee a win for the Ganguly-led side, India won more matches in overseas conditions under his leadership. Ganguly was fierce as a captain in the field. In the NatWest 2002 final as well he decided not to take his feet off the Lord’s balcony railing till the time Zaheer Khan nudged the ball for a single which was converted to a couple due to overthrow which helped India got over the line in the dramatic run chase.
Ganguly has been religious as BCCI President as well. Recently, Ganguly also visited a pandal during Navratri which was designed like iconic Lord’s balcony.
