Sourav Ganguly made Sehwag open batting and brought players like Zaheer, Yuvraj and Harbhajan: Wasim Jaffer

Former India opener Wasim Jaffer on Friday rated current BCCI chief Sourav Ganguly as the best captain he had played under. Wasim Jaffer made his debut under the captaincy of Sachin Tendulkar and went onto play most of his cricket 15 Tests – under Rahul Dravid.

Jaffer, who played 31 Tests, 2 ODIs for India, enjoyed his best run as opener under Rahul Dravid’s leadership before playing his last Test under the captaincy of MS Dhoni. Jaffer also said that Sourav Ganguly was the one who made the Indian side after 2000.

However, Jaffer failed to impress during his 5 Test stint under Sourav Ganguly. In seven innings under Ganguly, he scored 149 runs with the highest score of 86 against West Indies.

“Sourav Ganguly was the one who made the team after 2000. He had the temperament, backed the players and gave them a longer rope. He made Sehwag open the batting and brought players like Zaheer Khan, Yuvraj Singh and Harbhajan Singh,” Jaffer was quoted as saying by CricTracker.

When Sourav Ganguly took over as captain in 2000, Indian cricket was in muddy waters, picking up pieces after the match-fixing scandal. He drove the national team to safety and instilled the belief that India could win overseas, thus, becoming one of the most successful leaders the team has ever had.

If there one characteristic of Sourav Ganguly that yesteryear cricketers will never forget to enlist out of the veteran’s many, is the unending support he had extended towards his teammates.

It was Sourav Ganguly who backed young players like Virender Sehwag, Harbhajan Singh, Yuvraj Singh, Zaheer Khan, Ashish Nehra and many more and turned them into world-class cricketers.