Sourav Ganguly is often regared as one of India's greatest captains. Under Ganguly, Team India started playing a fiery brand of cricket and were known to give it back to the opposition. The one picture from Ganguly's cricket career that has become part of legend is his celebration at the Lord's balcony with his T-shirt off after India won the Natwest Trophy final. As cricket fans would remember, it was in response to Andrew Flintoff's shirtless celebration during their match in India before that final at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai.
While that moment became one of the defining moments of Ganguly's career and an iconic moment of Indian cricket history, the ex-India batter has embarrassingly remembered that incident. And now Ganguly's opening partner in that match with whom he scored a hundred-run opening partnership joked about that image.
"Dada celebrated without his shirt because he wanted an endorsement deal from an undergarments brand," Sehwag said on the sidelines of former BCCI General Manager Amrit Mathur's book: "Pitchside: My life in Indian cricket."
Also Read | Delhi Capitals To Invest In Upgradation of Arun Jaitley Stadium: Report
"He wanted to give a befitting reply to Flintoff who did the same in Mumbai," Sehwag added.
After a good opening stand in India's run-chase of 325, the team saw a dramatic collapse before two youngsters Yuvraj Singh and Mohammad Kaif came to India's resuce. Their stand helped India make a comeback and even though Yuvraj got out, Kaif remained unbeaten till the end and saw India clinch the game with Zaheer Khan hitting the winning runs.
"It was a massive feeling to see Sachin (Tendulkar) come to receive us. He was running towards me. The maximum reaction that you would get from him [usually] would be a pat on the back, even if you took a brilliant catch. Or at the most, he would shake hands, saying "Well played." So I was expecting him to do that, but rather, he opened his arms up to hug me. Wow! I wish people would have captured that. It remains etched in my mind," Kaif recalled in a conversation on The Cricket Monthly.