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Did Ravi Shastri demean Sourav Ganguly's achievements while praising MS Dhoni?

Ravi Shastri hailed MS Dhoni by saying, "My salaam to a dada captain.”

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Sourav Ganguly and Ravi Shastri
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It's a well known fact that veteran Indian cricketers Ravi Shastri and Sourav Ganguly share a volatile relationship. Ever since the former technical director of Indian cricket team was not given the coach's post by a BCCI appointed committee (they chose Anil Kumble instead), which comprised of Ganguly, the duo started taking pot shots at each other and criticised one another on public platforms. 

May be because of this rift created between the two, Shastri still can't stand Ganguly and it was obvious from his statements given to Wisden India. While speaking about Dhoni stepping down as Indian captain, Shastri hailed Mahi by saying, "My salaam to a dada captain.”  Well, everybody knows who is referred to as 'Dada' in Indian cricket circles and by addressing Dhoni as 'Dada', Shastri really wanted to prove a point.

Talking about Dhoni's timing of leaving the hot seat, Shastri said, “This has given Virat (Kohli) time till the Champions Trophy to prepare for the title defence. MS has won everything there is to win, he really has nothing to prove. Again, the reason I say he has nothing to prove is that he is easily India’s most successful captain, by a distance. There is no one even close to him in that regard. The names that follow in that list a fair distance behind are Kapil Dev, who led India to the World Cup title in 1983 and because of whom we won the Test series in England in 1986. And Ajit (Wadekar) in an era before there was one-day cricket, when we won successive Test series in the West Indies and then England in 1971. And of course, Tiger (Pataudi) for flamboyance. Baaki koi nahi (there is no one else).”

It may be noted that Ganguly was the man who took charge of Indian cricket team when it was struggling with match-fixing scandals in the early 2000s and then took it to great heights. Under him India won Test matches abroad on a consistent basis while making the final of World Cup in 2003. So to ignore Ganguly's name while discussing about captains who have done well for the national team, itself reiterates the fact that Shastri is still having personal issues with the current Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) President.

Shastri further said, “The reason I say I am not surprised at this decision is that he is not someone who will chase the seat. He is the kind of guy who will play on his own terms, and this is what his terms are.

“He has obviously given it a lot of thought, though I must admit it must have been a tough decision to make. He has been the captain for so long, it wouldn’t have been easy to make the call that enough was enough. But then again, MS knows that the man in waiting is ready, like he must have felt in Australia when he not just quit the Test captaincy but Test cricket itself. This is a very sensible and wise decision.”

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