It showed they cared: Ganguly recalls Tendulkar and Harbhajan's prank

Former India captain and Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) President Sourav Ganguly on Saturday recalled an instance when the Indian team played an April Fool's Day prank on him.

Recalling the incident while answering fans' questions in a video interaction for Unacademy, Ganguly said: "I will always remember this, when I was not getting runs against Pakistan. I was captain of the team so I remember going to the dressing room and it was April Fool's Day. I didn't even remember that it was April Fool's Day and that the players could play a prank on me.

"I was a little disappointed because I wasn't scoring runs. As I entered the dressing room, the team members got together led by Sachin (Tendulkar) and Harbhajan Singh and were saying that they are very disappointed with what I said about the team in the media. I said, what did I say -- I was very sensitive at the time. They said that there were reports in the newspapers that you were not happy with the way the team has played."

Ganguly said that he was so upset with what he heard that he offered to resign as captain of the team right there.

"I said if you guys feel that I will get upset about (the team not playing well) and I did something wrong, I am ready to resign today and I am ready for somebody else to take the captaincy. I said that and went and sat on my chair. Couple of minutes went away and I saw everybody jumping with laughter," he said.

Ganguly said that it was Harbhajan who finally broke the act. "I was really upset then and a little bit shocked at what I had just heard from the team. And then Harbhajan jumped up and said April Fool," he said.

The 47-year-old said that the incident worked well for him as he went on to regain his form with the bat.

"That I think worked well for me because I went and played well in the series. It just showed me how much my players cared. I wasn't scoring runs and they wanted me to feel good and believe that they will be there for me in my difficult times. It really opened me up," he said.