'Ganguly came to our dressing room...told him not to worry'

Kumar Sangakkara. Pic/ AFP

Former Sri Lanka skipper Kumar Sangakkara has spilled the beans on an incident during the 2002 Champions Trophy final where then India captain Sourav Ganguly had reached out to the Lankan dressing room. The two finals in that year's Champions Trophy were washed out and India and Sri Lanka were declared joint-winners. "I remember one very specific incident in a one-day match where he was having this big argument with Russel Arnold. I think Dada was on his final warning and the umpire reported him," Sangakkara said on Star Sports show Cricket Connected.

"Dada came to our dressing room and had a chat to us that if this goes the whole distance, he was going to get suspended. And we told him not to worry and that we were not going to make a big deal about it and he was going to be okay." Arnold was repeatedly running on the pitch during that game and Ganguly was there to constantly remind him of his error. Umpires had to intervene after tempers flared.

Earlier in the same show, ex-South Africa captain and current Director of Cricket South Africa Graeme Smith said it is hard to find anyone in world cricket that didn't get along with veteran Indian wicketkeeper-batsman M.S. Dhoni. Former captains Dhoni and Ganguly celebrated their birthdays earlier this week. Smith also spoke about BCCI President Ganguly.

"I seriously doubt that you probably find anyone in world cricket that didn't get on with MS. He went about his business. He was calm, he was collected," Smith said. "And again, like Sanga(kkara), was to spend a fair amount of time with Dada -- in administration, we are having a number of conversations over the telephone. He's always calm, approachable, always interested in a good conversation, so a lot of respect for both men."

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