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He jumped with two coffee cups in hands and came to meet me: Saqlain Mushtaq

image-l8am4l2gSourav Ganguly and Saqlain Mushtaq [Image Credit- HT]

Legendary off-spinner and current Pakistan head coach Saqlain Mushtaq recently recalled an encounter with former Indian skipper Sourav Ganguly, which proceeded to change his view about the current BCCI President.

During an exclusive conversation with Sportskeeda, Saqlain revealed that during the course of his career, he always had this view that Ganguly had a 'bit of air about him'.

That all changed during the English summer of 2004, when Saqlain featured for Sussex in a warm-up game against the touring Indian team.

Saqlain had just undergone knee surgery, and he was taken aback when Ganguly came up with two cups of coffee in his hands to the Sussex dressing room. The former off-spinner revealed that he felt so embarrassed that he even went on to apologize to the Indian cricketer.

Here's what Saqlain Mushtaq revealed:

"There are some people with whom you don't feel like talking or interacting. During our playing days, initially I had that feeling for Sourav Ganguly. He was India's captain and a legend without doubt. However, whenever we met, it was always "hello", "hi" and nothing more. I had a feeling that he thinks very highly of himself," 

"After my knee operation in 2003-04, Ganguly was there on that tour and Sachin Tendulkar as well. Sachin had just had an elbow injury. I was playing a side match against India. It was my first match after rehab and I had to play county for Sussex," added Saqlain.

"Believe me, Ganguly brought two cups of coffee. The roofs of the two dressing rooms were together. There was just a small wall in between. You could either jump or come from behind. He jumped with two coffee cups in hands and came to meet me. I was shocked and was wondering what he was doing here." 

Saqlain Mushtaq and Sourav Ganguly rubbed shoulders many times during their celebrated careers

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The duo had many memorable battles during the 1997 Sahara Cup, 1999 World Cup, 1999 Test series in India- where Saqlain took 4 five-wicket-hauls in as many innings- and finally during India's historic tour of Pakistan in 2004.

Mushtaq's promising career was cut short due to injuries. The off-spinner, who invented 'doosra', went on to represent Pakistan in 49 Tests and 169 ODIs, claiming 208 and 288 wickets respectively.

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