All my best memories
Come back clearly to me
Some can even make me cry.
Just like before
It’s yesterday once more.
The iconic Carpenters’ song summed up the mood best when we caught up with Sourav Ganguly and Harbhajan Singh on Friday. The ‘captain’ in a grey-and-black tracksuit, looking fit as a fiddle. The ‘soldier’ in a navy blue one, joining the ranks. The compatriots came together to shoot a campaign for Captain Steel India Ltd’s Captain Rust Guard TMT bars, at a rain-lashed Ibiza — The Fern Resort & Spa, Kriparampur, Diamond Harbour Road. While Sourav has had a long association with the brand, Harbhajan has recently come on board.
The afternoon was of course nostalgia drenched, with the reunion post the lifting of the pandemic restrictions making it even more special. A whiff of the comfort of familiarity. t2 sat them down during a rain break and savoured every bit of this look-back chat.
You’ve met each other after how long?
Sourav: I think I met Harbhajan last year. Covid er jonyo dyakha hoini. Everybody was stuck at home. We discussed quite a lot of things. Cricket… life. He has just become a father.
Harbhajan: It is always special to meet him. I am very close to him. He is like an elder brother. So, I was very happy.
Sourav has been travelling for a while now, but you have spent most of your lockdown at home…
Harbhajan: Yeah, I have spent most of my lockdown at home. My wife (actress Geeta Basra) was pregnant. I didn’t go out anywhere because I didn’t want to bring anything back with me. So, stayed at home, learnt a few dishes and spent a lot of time with my daughter and wife. This was the first time that my wife and I lived together as a couple because I was constantly moving from one place to the other (before the pandemic). This lockdown gave us a chance to live like a couple and we made the best of it by producing another child! (Laughs)
For a lot of us, both of you are synonymous with the golden years of Indian cricket. What were your first impressions of each other?
Sourav: He was a young boy. I saw him for the first time in Sharjah. I hadn’t become the captain then. It was a match against Australia and he bowled exceptionally well. Then he was left out for a while and when I became captain, I made sure he was back, for the quality he brought on the field, the fight, the guts. There are some people who lift the team up and he was one of them, with his bowling and also his presence on the field. That was in 2000 under my leadership.
Then of course he is an all-time great. I don’t need to say that. I was fortunate enough to captain both him and Anil (Kumble). They made our bowling unit a formidable one. We batted well but we needed bowlers to pick wickets and they did. We played well away and beat the best in the world. There hasn’t been a better cricket team than the West Indies in the ’70s and Australia in the late ’90s and early 2000s. I remember in 2001 Test series, I had only one bowler… Harbhajan Singh. Kumble injured, (Javagal) Srinath injured. Zaheer (Khan) was there. To come back from a series against the best in the business at that time… unreal. He is just a special player. We were part of a fantastic team. Just go through the team and see the opener, the number three, four, five, six, the two spinners and Zaheer… have played a 100 Test matches. It’s remarkable.
Harbhajan: I saw Dada playing that Test match at Lord’s. If Sourav was not there, I don’t think my career would have shaped up the way it did. I am grateful for such seniors and such a captain. Even when I have had non-cricket problems, I could always call him. I am one of those lucky guys who have played with these legends and learnt how to win games… I played in that era. Almost all the teams were very strong and we had to compete very hard to beat them and we had one of those leaders who showed us how to win. He is special.
You are just eight years apart. Sourav, you were his mentor. What is the relationship like right now?
Sourav: He is my brother. He didn’t need mentoring. His hunger was so much that I just made sure that he was at peace. That’s what you do as a captain. You are fortunate that you have the best around you. When you have the best around you, it is your job to look after them. At the end of the day, the captain is as good as the team. A team wins because of its players.
In the 2011 World Cup too he played an important role. See what he has done with Mumbai Indians. He won them the Champions League (Twenty20) in Chennai. He won them as captain in his first year. Then Rohit (Sharma) came in, but they gave him the chance once and he won them the league.
They also played massive pranks on you…
Sourav: My relationship with them was like that. I may have been the captain of the team but when you spend so much time together… eight-nine months on the road, travelling to different parts of the world, you are like family.
Harbhajan, what do you remember of that episode where you guys pranked him with a fake newspaper article?!
Harbhajan: It was an April Fool (prank). We went to the ground and the moment he entered, we said ‘Dada, we need to talk to you’. All the seniors were on our side. We asked him what kind of interviews had he been giving… that we are not putting our best foot forward and that we had been partying! He said he never said these things. We said we have proof! We had got together false paper cuttings. Yuvraj (Singh) said he didn’t want to play. Dada said he would give up captaincy! Then we told him it was a prank!
We had that freedom that we could have fun with him. We were allowed to have fun. Woh toh unki khasiyat thi mujhe ghar nahin bheja. Yeh prank kisi aur kaptan ke saath kiya hota toh…. (Laughs)
Are you in touch otherwise?
Sourav: We don’t get to see each other that much because we don’t play together any more, but relationships which have been built over such a long period, 25 years, even if you don’t meet, you are available all the time for them. The memories and the love still remains. Everyone is busy, staying in different parts of the country, but the attachment always remains. If Harbhajan needs something, wherever I am, it has to be done. If I need something, wherever Harbhajan is, it has to be done.
The best thing is when you meet, whether it is Harbhajan or Sachin (Tendulkar), Viru (Virender Sehwag), Yuvraj (Singh), you feel so happy because they were a part of the best days of your life.
Sourav gave us a scare when he recently took ill. You must have reached out to him…
Harbhajan: I did try to call him but couldn’t get through and then I tried speaking to bhabi (Sourav’s wife Dona) but couldn’t get through to her as well. But then I got to know he was doing fine. I prayed for him. My wife was (also concerned). She knows that there are a few guys that I respect in Test cricket or pura jo cricket maine khela and he is probably at the top of that list.
Sourav: If there is a body, there will be problems. None of us are getting younger. I was reading the other day that Richard Hadlee played throughout his career with a fast heartbeat. I just have to watch out for what I eat so that my cholesterol remains in check.
Harbhajan, Sourav’s biopic is being made. Who do you think should play him?
Harbhajan: I think Farhan Akhtar should. He is brilliant and so good in the sports films. Baki Dada ki choice hain….
Sourav, you have voted for Ranbir Kapoor…
Sourav: No, no… it’s not true. They are all good. As long as the producer feels the actor fits the bill, I am good. He’s got to bat left-handed, that is important.
Harbhajan: Dada is full of passion. Mere soch hain woh Farhan Akhtar se better koi nahin kar sakta.
Pictures: Pabitra Das
This is our 14th year running with Sourav and we signed Harbhajan last year. We were bringing out this new product and we were thinking of having one more person with us who’s had a very long career and great rapport with Sourav. The USP of this product is that it is coated TMT bars, which goes into construction and RCC structures. The biggest problem for structural damage is corrosion and rusting. Over a period of time, the steel loses its strength. This product because of its special coating prevents corrosion, so the life of the structure increases. Sourav is more family now. He understands business and tries to understand what we are doing in the steel industry and he has his own inputs. Harbhajan is down to earth and a family man to the core — Avinash Agarwalla (right) director, Captain Steel India (in picture with brother Sanjay Gupta, CEO, Captain Steel India)
Sourav and Harbhajan’s messages for each other....
The icons strike a pose for t2
Sourav on Harbhajan: I just wish him all the best. I have always wished him so and it doesn’t change. He is in his early 40s. For him life has just begun. For any sportsperson, after you have finished playing the sport, you are still young. He must enjoy himself. He is successful. He needs to be happy, which is important. No one knew Covid would come and we lost so many close people in the last one-and-a-half years. Harbhajan is that kind of a person who enjoys life and lives to the fullest and cares about people. He has two kids now. So even more responsibility. So, look after your health. When you get older, the body changes and his has been through a lot, bowling overs and overs for India. Hundred Test matches, pressure, anger, abuse, criticism… so it all stays in your system. He should just look after himself and he’ll be fine. He is a great guy.
Harbhajan on Sourav: My only wish for him is to stay healthy and fit. He has been around many years as a leader and going forward, all I want is his blessings forever. He is a leader and sets the right examples. He is doing tremendous work with the BCCI and we need more of such leaders. We hardly have. We’ve got one and we must make the best use of this. I wish him the best and may he continue to inspire us.
The biggest prankster…
Sourav: They all were! Him (Harbhajan), Viru. They had so much freedom. I never restricted them. Life on the field and off it, are different. I was a captain on the field and just one of them off it because I was like that. I don’t expect a 20-year-old to sit in his room and keep praying. You need to give them the freedom to see the world and they need to enjoy themselves. For me, cricket was important and as long as they played the best cricket, I was okay.
Harbhajan pointed at himself.
The funniest…
Harbhajan: Depends on kya din hai… (We prompt Ashish Nehra’s name) Ashish (Nehra) was funny. Sachin was very good with his one-liners, which many of you don’t know. He needs to be around his own people. That dressing room was like home. You are sleeping there, talking there, doing whatever you want to do. The captain won’t come and say anything, but you needed to deliver on the field. We were very fortunate to have such seniors and leaders in the team to give us that freedom but on the ground 100 per cent se bhi zyada effort nazar aani chahiye and usme humnein kabhi kaami nahin chhori aapne taraf se. Ho sakta hain kabhi jeete ho, kabhi haare ho….
Sourav: The dressing room can never be a laughing class because everyone is under pressure but there were still jokes may be about something you read in the newspaper, a movie they must’ve seen the night before… that entire scrutiny would go on, but the mind was in the game…. Yuvi’s dressing sense, Sachin’s running, how Ashish Nehra wants everything in life… when you become friends you can talk about anything.
Harbhajan: Ashish Nehra, ek topic ko woh kahan le jayega even he doesn’t know! Ek discussion agar usne shuru kiya, only he will speak! He was different.