Former BCCI president Sourav Ganguly spoke exclusively to Sports Tak about his term as the president of India's apex cricket board and spoke about many special moments — both good and bad — during his three-year tenure from 2019-2022. He revealed that the BCCI was a mess after his team was handed the reins from the Committee of Administrators (CoA) but hosting the Indian Premier League (IPL) in the UAE during COVID-19 was definitely among the highlights of his time as president.
"We came in at a time when we had just come out of the CoA regime and it was a bit of a mess. We had to clean things up and put it back. Then COVID came in. Two of the worst years the world has ever seen. Organizing IPL in COVID, in 2020, was an unbelievable effort," Ganguly told Sports Tak.
"Not just by us, but even by the staff who work. To take it to Dubai, landing in Dubai and then realizing 6-7 CSK players were hit with COVID. And to come out of it and go through two and a half months, complete the tournament without COVID issues was phenomenal. The World Cup couldn't happen in 2020 because of COVID.
'Winning in Australia, that was a positive': Sourav Ganguly
However, this was not the only time as president that highlighted his time with the BCCI. He also recalled India's miraculous win over Australia in a Test series in 2020-21 but according to him, the biggest positive was the way women's cricket developed under his tutelage.
"Winning in Australia. That was a positive, although we don't have much contribution to that. Players ultimately play. Then in England how they played.
"I think the biggest positive of the three-year regime was the development of women's cricket. To see women's cricket go that far was fantastic. Commonwealth Games final, winning the Asia Cup. And in both times, it was India's game to win. Beating an Australian team who were miles ahead of any team in women's cricket."
Sourav Ganguly opens up on drawbacks, special moments as BCCI president
One project that is close to Ganguly is the new National Cricket Academy (NCA) campus, which he says will be completed by 2024. He also mentioned the controversy with Virat Kohli. "The NCA is coming up. It should be ready in a year's time, almost done. It's something very special to me, to create an infrastructure that is the best in the world. Because BCCI has a huge impact on world trade. A bit of controversy with Virat in the middle."
"We were extremely happy that we got VVS and Rahul, two of the biggest names in Indian cricket into the Indian team, the U19s winning the world cup in West Indies. Everything you do will not be good. Everything you touch will not have a positive outcome. But if you do a majority of it, and then I think you've done a good job. But the hardest thing to run cricket in spite of COVID."
Ganguly was in London for the WTC final, which India lost to Australia by 209 runs.
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