Won my heart in 40 minutes: Saqlain on Ganguly

Pakistan spin legend Saqlain Mushtaq hailed former India captain Sourav Ganguly on his current role as president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India.

The pair have faced each other a few times on the pitch and Saqlain shared an interesting anecdote about Ganguly from their playing days.

"When India was touring England, I was playing for Sussex. They had a three-day practice match in Sussex and Sourav (Ganguly) was not playing that match.

Sussex won the toss and decided to bat," Saqlain said in a video on Youtube.

"I think this had happened in 2005-06. I had undergone surgery on both knees and was bed-ridden for 36-37 weeks. I was both down and depressed.

"I was making a comeback in that post surgery period and Sourav had come to watch that match. When Sussex were batting, Sourav had seen me from the balcony.

I did not see him because our dressing room was facing the other direction.

"Ganguly then came to our dressing room and offered me a cup of coffee and enquired about my knees, life, family. Then we just started talking. He sat with me for 40 minutes and ended up winning my heart."

Saqlain said that Ganguly was a great captain for India and will emulate that success as BCCI President.

"When we used to play, there used to be a tremendous amount of passion from both sides. The fans used to make their presence felt.

There used to be some misunderstandings as well, and even I have been a part of it. However, once the match got over, we all used to put it behind us. I have never had a misunderstanding with Sourav," he said.

"Sourav Ganguly has done a tremendous job when he was captaining India and I am sure that he will go a long way in taking cricket forward in his country as the BCCI President. All the best and go ahead."

Former Pakistan skipper and wicket-keeper Rashid Latif has slammed the four-nation tournament proposal put forward by the BCCI chief Sourav Ganguly, saying the idea will be a "flop" just like the "Big Three Model".

"By playing such a series, these four countries want to isolate the other member nations which is not a good news.

But I think this will be a flop idea like the Big Three model, which was introduced few years back," said Latif in a YouTube video.

On Tuesday, the English and Wales Cricket Board confirmed that there have been discussions with the BCCI regarding the proposed four-nation tournament.

"We meet regularly with other leaders from the major cricketing nations to share learnings and discuss topics that impact our sport," the ECB said as reported by ESPNcricinfo.

Indian pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah, who was supposed to prove his fitness during the Ranji Trophy match between Gujarat and Kerala, did not feature in the game which began at the Lalabhai Contractor Stadium on Wednesday.

However, reports emerged that Bumrah was asked by BCCI President Sourav Ganguly to stay away from Gujarat's game and a BCCI functionary confirmed to IANS that the pacer was indeed asked to skip the Ranji match and focus on white-ball cricket.

On Monday, the right-arm pacer was included in both the T20I and ODI squads for Sri Lanka and Australia respectively.

Sourav hailed Ravichandran Ashwin for finishing the decade as the highest wicket-taker in international cricket.

Ganguly tweeted a screenshot of an Instagram post by the International Cricket Council (ICC) listing the top wicket takers of the decade. Ashwin sits on top with 564 scalps.

Ashwin is also the only spinner in the list. England duo James Anderson and Stuart Broad come second and third with 535 and 525 wickets respectively.

New Zealand's Tim Southee and Trent Boult are fourth and fifth with 472 and 458 wickets respectively.