Kolkata: Former India captain Sourav Ganguly has opened up about the difficult period Indian cricket faced during the match-fixing scandal of the early 2000s, revealing that he was initially unaware of the extent of the controversy when he took over as captain. Speaking on the Raj Shamani podcast, Ganguly recalled how Indian cricket was going through one of its most turbulent phases following allegations and punishments involving several players, including Mohammad Azharuddin and Ajay Jadeja. Ganguly said he personally approached senior teammates like Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and Anil Kumble to understand whether they had ever been contacted in relation to betting or fixing.
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“The issues that the Indian team faced just before I became captain — betting, match-fixing — I didn’t even know about these things. I kept asking Sachin and Rahul whether anyone had approached them because nobody had approached me,” Ganguly said. He added that both Tendulkar and Kumble told him they had never been approached, and he remained focused on rebuilding the team rather than dwelling on the controversy. At just 27, Ganguly was handed the responsibility of leading India during a challenging period. Under his leadership, Team India underwent a major transformation and eventually reached the final of the 2003 Cricket World Cup, where they lost to Australia national cricket team. Widely regarded as one of India’s greatest ODI players, Ganguly scored 11,363 runs in 311 One Day Internationals and also represented India in 113 Test matches. He later served as president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India and currently heads the Cricket Association of Bengal.
