On an evening built around memory and myth at the launch of Miracle at Eden, commemorating 25 years of the iconic 2001 Test at Eden Gardens, Sourav Ganguly offered a clear-eyed reassessment of what truly defined his side.<\/p>\n
While the NatWest Trophy final of 2002 remains one of Indian cricket\u2019s most replayed moments, Ganguly was unequivocal in placing it below several Test victories achieved during his tenure.<\/p>\n
\u201cI would rate my NatWest win on a much lower pedestal than Calcutta, Chennai (2001), Pakistan (2004), Headingley (2002), then Adelaide (2003),\u201d Ganguly said. \u201cThose were much better wins.\u201d<\/p>\n
Speaking on the sidelines of the book launch, Ganguly revisited a phase where India began competing, and winning, consistently overseas. He pointed to the 2003 Adelaide Test as a turning point in belief.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn Australia, they had got 400 on day one, and we still went on to win the Test on the fifth day,\u201d he recalled.<\/p>\n
He also underlined the tactical conviction behind India\u2019s innings victory at Headingley in 2002. \u201cI played two spinners. Ian Botham was at the toss and asked me, \u2018Are you serious?\u2019 I said, \u2018Yes, I want my spinners to bowl last.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
If Australia marked resilience, Pakistan, Ganguly suggested, tested character. \u201cPakistan was the hardest place to tour. India had never won there before. To win Tests and one-dayers there was a fantastic achievement.\u201d<\/p>\n
That tour, and the period around it, was defined by heavy scoring and a certain fearlessness, best captured in Virender Sehwag\u2019s triple hundred in Multan.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe told me he would hit a six on 94, 194 and 294,\u201d Ganguly said, smiling. \u201cI told him, when you get close to 300, take a single. Triple hundreds don\u2019t come often. He said no. And he still hit a six to get there.\u201d<\/p>\n
For Ganguly, these moments, across Kolkata, Chennai, Headingley, Adelaide and Pakistan, reflected a team that could \u201cgo around and do well everywhere in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n
Set against that context, even a famous one-day triumph receded slightly.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe had won nine games in a row to reach the NatWest final,\u201d he said. \u201cBut Test cricket will always be special.\u201d<\/p>\n
Published on Mar 30, 2026<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\n
Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"On an evening built around memory and myth at the launch of Miracle at Eden, commemorating 25 years of the iconic 2001 Test at Eden Gardens, Sourav Ganguly offered a clear-eyed reassessment of what truly defined his side. While the NatWest Trophy final of 2002 remains one of Indian cricket\u2019s most replayed moments, Ganguly was…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":149226,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-149225","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/newslink360.space\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/A3_RVM_4691.jpg","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pgnRh4-COR","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newslink360.space\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/149225","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newslink360.space\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newslink360.space\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newslink360.space\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newslink360.space\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=149225"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newslink360.space\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/149225\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newslink360.space\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/149226"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newslink360.space\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=149225"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newslink360.space\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=149225"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newslink360.space\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=149225"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}