[Watch] KKR shares an unseen motivational team speech from Sourav Ganguly from 2008
Two-time IPL winners Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), shared a throwback video from 2008 where Sourav Ganguly was seen giving a motivational speech in KKR's dressing room.
Sourav Ganguly was one of the icon players in the first year of the IPL, representing his home city of Kolkata with KKR.
The franchise shared the clip with the caption:
"Unseen footage from 2008 - Sourav Ganguly’s motivating speech in #KKR Team meeting."
In the clip, Ganguly said:
"I have been around for 14 years in international cricket. I have seen good days, I have seen bad days. You know when I was left out in 2005, when I was captain with Greg Chappell we had problems, I was left out. Nobody gave me a chance to comeback.
"Everyone, even my dad at home he used to tell me- 'just forget it. You've played enough, you've played 300ODI, 80 odd Test matches. I don't think you'll play again.' And I still came back and played after six months and played the best cricket in the last 17 months.
"Why I'm trying to say this is you never know what's in store. And I firmly believe there's always light at the end of the tunnel."
Ganguly was seated next to Shoaib Akhtar in the clip, who played in the inaugural season of the IPL. The former India captain is seen urging his teammates to keep believing while giving a morale-boosting speech.
KKR didn't have the best of times in the first few seasons of the IPL, finishing sixth in the opening campaign. They had to wait until 2011 to make the playoffs for the first time.
Cricketing fraternity wishes Sourav Ganguly on his birthday
Sourav Ganguly is celebrating his 49th birthday today. From Virender Sehwag to Sachin Tendulkar, everyone came together to wish 'Dada' on the special occasion.
Here are some of the best wishes for the current BCCI president:
His former opening partner, Sachin Tendulkar's wish, stood out as the legend wished Ganguly in the latter's native language.