Former India skipper Sourav Ganguly might have registered 38 international centuries in his illustrious career, but the classy left-hander himself rues not converting enough of his starts into hundreds.
Ganguly, who accumulated 18,575 runs in Tests and One-Day Internationals, conceded that not converting a series of promising performances into triple-figure scores is his biggest cricketing misgiving.
"I lost a lot of hundreds. I should have done better. Too many 90s and 80s," Ganguly said in an interview to PTI when asked what words of wisdom he would give to his younger self.
The erstwhile India captain played 113 Tests and 311 ODIs. Looking at his statistics, one finds that he was dismissed in the 80s and 90s as many as 30 times. Had he converted those into hundreds, Ganguly could have easily achieved the 50-century mark in his international career.
"When I am alone and my wife is not here — as our daughter Sana resides in London — I access YouTube and watch my previous matches," he added. "I watch my videos and tell myself, 'Arre phir 70 pe out ho gaya' (Oh no, got out in the 70s again), I should have scored a hundred. But you can't change it."
In ODIs, Ganguly recorded 72 half-centuries, while in Test cricket he had 35 half-centuries.
Captaincy Regret: Leaving out Kumble
Looking back on his captaincy stint, Ganguly also regretted having to leave out master leg-spinner Anil Kumble on a few occasions — difficult choices that needed to be made in accordance with team needs and conditions.
"Anil Kumble, a couple of times, as he was that good," he explained, in acknowledgement of his top bowler, whom he had to omit owing to limited options.
T20 Leagues - Test Cricket
On the increasing dominance of T20 franchise leagues, Ganguly opined that it would be challenging for the International Cricket Council (ICC) to stem the tide.
His comments come after players like Nicholas Pooran and Heinrich Klaasen walked away from international cricket to focus on domestic T20 leagues.
"They do regulate, but I don't know how you stop Test-playing nations from having their own leagues," Ganguly stated.
Favourite Rivals, Biopic in Progress
Asked about his most challenging opponents, Ganguly identified Australia as his favourite rival side and added that Glenn McGrath was the bowler he dreaded the most.
The veteran captain also revealed that work on his long-awaited biopic has begun. Actor Rajkummar Rao has been finalised to play the lead role, with filming set to commence in January 2026.
"The shooting will begin in January. Pre-production, scripting and story writing take a lot of time. Shooting is not that time-consuming," Ganguly observed.
The movie is likely to hit the screens by the end of 2026.
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