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Former Indian opener Arun Lal recently opined that BCCI President Sourav Ganguly is the 'chosen one', and can achieve success in any field he is part of.
Arun Lal also spoke about how being dropped from the Indian team in the early stages of his career made Sourav Ganguly a better player. He reasoned that the time away from the team helped the talented left-hander mature and come back stronger with a better understanding of his game.
Arun Lal shared his thoughts about his cricketing career as a player and coach apart from the role he played in mentoring Sourav Ganguly in an exclusive chat with Indranil Basu on Sportskeeda Live.
On being asked about the long conversations he had with Sourav Ganguly to boost the latter's morale after he had been dropped from the Indian team post a short stint in the 1991-92 tri-series in Australia, Arun Lal highlighted that he knew Dada was a special cricketer, much like Sachin Tendulkar.
"I have always been a fan of Sourav. Like Tendulkar, Sourav was special. I remember watching Sourav play an exhibition match at CCFC in Kolkata. This young kid hit about 6-7 sixes in that exhibition game."
"He was hitting them out of the club, onto to the tramlines and with ease. He was all of 16-17 years old. So like Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly was born to play cricket. He had an extremely unbelievable amount of talent."
Arun Lal iterated that it was evident from the early stages that Sourav Ganguly would make it big in the international game, while adding that the initial failure gave the latter an opportunity to improve further.
"Sourav stood out, it was apparent that he is very different. I was always sure that there will be no stopping this young man, whatever happens. And like any other time, I have been a firm believer in understanding the moment."
"When you fail or when you are sacked or removed, it is not something to be disappointed about, it is an opportunity to do something better. It is an opportunity to learn and understand and move on. You must actually embrace failure."
The current Bengal coach added that Sourav Ganguly was naturally upset at being dropped but that time out of the Indian team helped him to become the great player and captain he eventually did.
"Sourav was gutted, devastated but when you look back and even at that time I said that if he wasn't dropped from Indian cricket at that stage, he wouldn't have become what he has now."
"Because the couple of years out of the team gave him time to mature, to understand and recollect himself and come back strong. And so you have Sourav Ganguly the captain and Sourav Ganguly now heading the BCCI."
Arun Lal went on to add that he believes that the best of Sourav Ganguly is yet to come.
"And I do believe that we haven't seen the best of him yet. The best years are ahead of him."
Arun Lal on Sourav Ganguly being fast-tracked into the Bengal Ranji team
Arun Lal was further asked if they saw so much talent in Sourav Ganguly that he was made to debut in a critical game like a Ranji Trophy final.
He replied that the left-hander was immensely gifted and everyone wanted to fast-track him into the Ranji team. While appreciating the current domestic structure developed by the BCCI, he also pointed out that some of the exceptional talents like Sachin Tendulkar might not be getting fast-tracked these days.
"He was an exceptional talent. Everybody wanted to fast-track him. In fact we have so many tiers in Indian cricket nowadays like under-16, under-19 where we have more games and it is fantastic the way the board has organised it."
"But sometimes an exceptional talent moves from one tier to another and it goes on and on. In our time, we did not have so many tiers and if anyone was really good he was fast-tracked into the senior team like Sachin Tendulkar."
'Sourav Ganguly is the chosen one'
Arun Lal was finally asked if he was surprised about the likelihood of Sourav Ganguly being the next ICC Chairman, to which he responded that the current BCCI President is destiny's child and that he will only go on to attain greater heights.
"Nothing about Sourav surprises me. When I look at him, I get the feeling that destiny is beckoning. He is the chosen one. When he was playing his cricket, even I underestimated how he is going to grow up."
"He has matured into a fine young man, he says the right things, he understands it, he is not impetuous, he is very measured."
"Very early in a conversation, you get a feeling that he has already understood what you are trying to explain to him. Nothing about him surprises me and he will grow from strength to strength."
Sourav Ganguly did not have a great start to his ODI career. He scored just 3 runs off 13 deliveries in the solitary ODI match he got to play against West Indies in the 1991-92 tri-series in Australia.
But he made a great comeback into the Indian team with a century on Test debut against England at Lord's in 1996 and never looked back thereafter.
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