Ganguly's hopes hit for six - literally
Sourav Ganguly has had indignity added to insult, after being struck for a match-clinching six off the final ball of a domestic one-day contest
Cricinfo staff
08-Mar-2006
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Playing for East Zone against Central Zone at Jaipur on Tuesday, Ganguly made a scratchy 17 from 43 balls before being asked to bowl the final over of the match.
It all came down to Central Zone needing five to win from a single delivery, but Ganguly was smashed for six over the cover region by rookie batsman Dishant Yagnik.
The incident was reminiscent of Javed Miandad's last-ball six off Chetan Sharma in the memorable Australasia Cup final in Sharjah in 1986. A stunned Ganguly walked off the field and rushed to catch a flight to his hometown of Kolkata even as team-mates awaited the next match in Jaipur on Thursday.
Ganguly's future had generated heated debate across India ever since he was sacked as captain and dumped from the team following a public spat with the coach, Greg Chappell, in September.
Ganguly, however, still harbours hopes of playing in the 2007 World Cup in the West Indies and wants to prove his form in domestic cricket. He remains India's most successful Test captain with 21 wins and has scored 5,221 runs from 88 Tests with 12 centuries. He also has 10,123 runs from 279 one-dayers with 22 hundreds.