Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid met at the iconic Eden Gardens in Kolkata on the eve of India vs West Indies 1st T20I. Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) took to Twitter to share a photograph of Ganguly, the BCCI president and Dravid, the current Team India head coach, on Tuesday. "When two legends of Indian Cricket met at the Eden Gardens," BCCI wrote in the caption. Ganguly and Dravid go back a long way. From competing against each other in junior cricket to making their Test debuts in the same Test match and then playing under each other's captaincy for India, Ganguly and Dravid have been part of some of the most memorable moments in Indian cricket.
To put Ganguly and Dravid's association into perspective, the former left-hander has played 424 matches for India, out of which Dravid was part of 369, which is close to 90% of his international career.
Eden Gardens too has seen a fair amount of Ganguly and Dravid camaraderie. The duo have played eight Test matches and two ODIs together at the same venue, which will mark the beginning of India's three-match T20I series against the West Indies, starting on Wednesday. All three matches are scheduled to be played on this ground.
India whitewashed West Indies in the three-match ODI series but are likely to face stiffer competition in T20Is from the visitors, who historically, have been one of the best sides in the shortest format of the game.
India have a packed white ball calendar in the build up to the T20 World Cup in exactly eight months' time. They next face Sri Lanka in three T20Is which will be followed by a Test series. Captain Rohit Sharma, therefore, wants to "identify" players and give them a fair opportunity.
"The idea is to identify the players who are going to play the World Cup and give them the game time. There are a lot of players who are injured. Come the World Cup, we don't know who's going to be fit and who's not," Rohit said ahead of the match.
"We just want to give the other guys the chance and be ready for that. We have a very packed schedule and injuries are bound to happen. So it's important that we give the guys who are going to fill those roles enough game time as well," he added.