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'He made Indian cricket tough': Nasser Hussain talks about Natwest 2002 Final on Sourav Ganguly's birthday

Former India captain Sourav Ganguly turns 48 today (July 8) and the cricketing world has been celebrating Dada's birthday by pouring in wishes. 

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Former India captain Sourav Ganguly turns 48 today (July 8) and the cricketing world has been celebrating Dada's birthday by pouring in wishes. 

Known to be one of the finest players and captains in world cricket, many former captains like Nasser Hussain and Waugh recalled how Ganguly used to 'get under their skin' by showing up late for the toss.

Talking about the same on BCCI President's birthday, the former England captain recalled the Natwest 2002 Final and the memories behind it.

When asked to speak about the match, Nasser Hussain told ICC, "That was my most favourite and least favourite game I've ever played in. It was one of the great one-day games that we had of that generation. India hadn't won a major final for a long time and it looked like they were going to lose that one and I enjoyed playing against Ganguly," He said. 

"Ganguly I've always said made Indian cricket tough made it what it is now. Before Sourav, they were a very nice bunch to play with, with some great cricketers, but Sourav made them into a very tough, determined side. You'd be out there waiting for the toss, 10:30 - 'Where's Ganguly?' 10:31 - 'Where's Ganguly?' and he'd stroll out, chuck his paper, his team at you and you knew they were a feisty bunch to beat. And when he took his shirt off on the balcony - brilliant! That is Ganguly at his best. 'i'll show the world, Flintoff did it in Mumbai, I'm doing it at Lord's'. I'm a massive fan of Ganguly, I'm just not a fan of that day," Nasser Hussain added. 

Ganguly is renowned for his leadership style and not letting the opposition breathe easy in a match. Termed as `God of off-side` by Rahul Dravid, Ganguly has never been the one to take a backseat.

As for International cricket, the Prince of Kolkata called time on his career in 2008 after playing his last Test against Australia in Nagpur. The left-handed batsman continued to play in the Indian Premier League (IPL) but retired from domestic cricket in 2012.

Ganguly played 113 Tests and 311 ODIs for India and scored 18,575 runs across all formats in his international career. 

Ganguly led India in 195 matches across all formats and managed to win 97 of those. Ganguly even played a key role in pushing the idea of day-night Test cricket in India after becoming BCCI President. His efforts paid off as India played its first-ever day-night Test match against Bangladesh at Eden Gardens in 2019.

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