Sourav Ganguly Rubbed People Off Wrong Way: Former England Fast Bowler Steve Harmison

Former England fast bowler Steve Harmison in a recent interaction with former Australia left-arm spinner Brad Hogg went back in time and recalled an incident that brought the strained relationship between Andrew Flintoff and Sourav Ganguly once again in the limelight.

New Delhi: Former England fast bowler Steve Harmison in a recent interaction with former Australia left-arm spinner Brad Hogg went back in time and recalled an incident that brought the strained relationship between Andrew Flintoff and Sourav Ganguly once again in the limelight.

Ganguly, a former India captain was known to not take things lying down and if experts are to be believed, his aggressive style of captaincy changed the face of Indian cricket. While stressing on the fact that most people didn’t get along with Ganguly, Harmison spoke about an incident when he dismissed the former India captain for 99 and Flintoff who had gone off the field, came running back to abuse the left-handed batsman as he was on his way back to the pavillion.

‘What was it with Sourav? He rubbed people off the wrong way. People didn’t get along with Sourav Ganguly. I remember playing my debut and I got him out for 99 first ball of an over. Andrew Flintoff had just gone off to the toilet, and literally, Freddie ran the drinks back on to abuse Sourav as he was going back for 99. Ganguly is a lovely guy but it was just something about Sourav Ganguly that people did not get on with him,’ Harmison said on his YouTube Show ‘Test of Time’.

Ganguly was known to get under the skin of the opposition and in a series against Australia in 2001, he made the then Australian captain Steve Waugh wait for the toss that annoyed the Aussies to no end.

‘It was an accident actually. In the first Test match, I left my blazer in the dressing room. They were such a good side and I was really nervous in that series because it was my first big series as captain. Last 25-30 years I haven’t seen a team as good as Australia in that generation. Initially, I forgot my blazer in the first test but then I realized that he reacted to it. It was working on them, working on the team, and how they went about their jobs. They were a bit grumpy with all that and it worked for us as we won the series 2-1,” Ganguly told Mayank Agarwal in a video uploaded by BCCI on Twitter last year.