"He didn't impose himself" - Aakash Chopra on one of the best qualities of Sourav Ganguly as skipper

Aakash Chopra feels Sourav Ganguly not imposing himself on his fellow cricketers was one of the biggest reasons for his success as skipper.

Sourav Ganguly was handed over the Indian captaincy in turbulent times. The scourge of match-fixing was hanging over Indian cricket and Sachin Tendulkar had declined to be the skipper.

In a video shared on his YouTube channel, Aakash Chopra highlighted that Sourav Ganguly's ability to carry everyone along was one of his most successful mantras as a skipper. He said:

"A thing I liked a lot was managing egos as he had big players around him. You look at Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid - of course he started with him, Anil Kumble, VVS Laxman - now everybody is growing in stature. In such a scenario, he didn't impose himself."

The former Indian opener pointed out that Sourav Ganguly sought the opinion of all the senior players before arriving at a final decision. Chopra elaborated:

"They were not youngsters and were of the same age group as Ganguly. He did leadership by committee, he got everyone together, he took advice from Sachin, Kumble and listened to Rahul carefully and took decisions according to that."

Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid are among the most successful captain and vice-captain combinations in Indian cricket history.

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"The best quality of Sourav Ganguly was the eye for talent" - Aakash Chopra

Sourav Ganguly backed the youngsters in his team to the hilt

Aakash Chopra termed Sourav Ganguly's ability to recognize talent as his biggest strength as a skipper. He observed:

"Sourav Ganguly hand-holded the transition very well, prepared a new team and after that things kept changing. The best quality of Sourav Ganguly, which every captain should have, was the eye for talent."

The 43-year-old highlighted that some of the best talents in Indian cricket blossomed under Sourav Ganguly's leadership. In this regard, Chopra said:

"He knew which horse needs to be backed, whether it was Yuvraj Singh, Virender Sehwag, Zaheer Khan, Ashish Nehra, Harbhajan Singh, the list is endless. Even MS Dhoni started under his captaincy."

Numerous former cricketers have said repeatedly in the past that they owe their careers to Sourav Ganguly. The current Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) president ensured that the youngsters at the time received sufficient opportunities to show their potential and were not sidelined after a few failures.

Whatever success I could achieve in Test Cricket,I truly attribute it to the wonderful support you gave me @SGanguly99 . #HappyBirthdayDada pic.twitter.com/wJJRvL6g90

— Virender Sehwag (@virendersehwag) July 8, 2017