Hardik Pandya's return to Gujarat Titans blocked over captaincy dispute

The IPL has contributed to the career growth of many players, both in India and around the world. Players who score goals and hit sixes on the field often threw parties after matches. The atmosphere of glamour off the field and the cohesion between players and franchise owners make the IPL special.

Recently, two veterans of the Indian team, Keshav Pujara and Irfan Pathan, shared interesting stories from the early seasons of the IPL and the night parties.

Keshav Pujara, who won the title with Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in 2021, appeared very composed on the field. Besides sports, Pujara was always punctual in his personal life. He recounted that his father had taught him to wake up early since childhood. However, the atmosphere in the IPL was completely different.

According to Pujara, the post-match parties would start around midnight or two in the morning. Being a punctual person, he would arrive first, but the other players would show up closer to three in the morning. Pujara would stay back a bit to sleep in his room, and in the morning, as usual, he would come to the dining hall for breakfast at 7:30 AM.

When Pujara first saw the other players at breakfast early in the morning, he thought they, like him, were used to waking up early. But later he learned the truth: the players weren't sleeping; they came to breakfast right after the night party, unrested, and planned to go to bed after eating.

During this conversation, Pujara also admitted that meeting Shahrukh Khan when he played for Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) was an important moment for him. On the other hand, Irfan Pathan told a funny story from IPL 2009. At that time, he played for Kings XI Punjab (now Punjab Kings). The team was losing matches consecutively, and the atmosphere was tense.

At that moment, the team co-owner and Bollywood actress Preeti Jinta offered the players a unique condition to boost morale. Preeti told the team that if they won the next match, she herself would prepare potato porridge for everyone.

This amusing promise worked: the team won the next match, and Preeti Jinta personally prepared the porridge and treated the entire team. Pathan highly appreciated Preeti Jinta, noting that she never lost her composure despite the string of defeats and always maintained the players' morale.

Former fast bowler for the Indian team, Javagal Srinath, shared an interesting comment regarding one of the most discussed episodes involving Saurav Ganguly. Srinath suggested that if he had been the referee in the match between India and Australia at the Eden Gardens during the 2001 Test, he could have temporarily banned Ganguly from playing in some matches to force the Australian captain, Steve Waugh, to wait when determining the outsider.

Recalling past times, Srinath jokingly stated: 'I would ban Saurav for several matches.' This incident became widely known during the Australian team's visit to India in 2001, when Indian captain Ganguly made Steve Waugh wait while determining the outsider. Some viewed this as a tactic of psychological pressure on the Australian captain.

Nevertheless, Saurav Ganguly himself later explained the reason for the delay with other circumstances, stating that he could not find his blazer, which led to the delay in determining the outsider. In that Test match, the Indian team won despite playing on a follow-on. Subsequently, India won the series 2-1.

After the joke about the outsider situation, Javagal Srinath highly praised Saurav Ganguly's leadership, particularly noting his ability to prepare young players. According to Srinath, Ganguly supported players like Yuvraj Singh, Harbhajan Singh, and Virender Sehwag by giving them ample opportunities for self-testing.

Javagal Srinath also recalled the period after the match-fixing scandal in Indian cricket in the late 1990s. He believes that at that time, there was a collective desire among the players to restore the image of Indian cricket. The team, which was fighting for victories abroad in the 1990s, gradually began to change its behavior.

Javagal Srinath made an important statement regarding the 2003 World Cup final. In the decisive match against Australia in Johannesburg, Saurav Ganguly won the toss and decided to start with bowling. Srinath reported that during team discussions, he supported the idea of starting with batting. He felt that creating a score would be a more effective strategy to put pressure on Australia.

He noted: 'I was among those who said we should start with batting and then put pressure on them.' However, captain Saurav Ganguly decided on bowling. In Srinath's opinion, after the captain's decision, the team should accept it and move on. That day, Australia played strongly, and India's dream of winning the World Cup collapsed.

Javagal Srinath also recounted an interesting episode from the early days of Zaheer Khan. He saw Zaheer take six wickets against Air India while playing for MRF Pace Foundation and was very impressed by his bowling. After that, he recommended Zaheer's name to the then selector Chandu Bordey.

Chandu Bordey jokingly asked what would happen to Javagal Srinath if Zaheer Khan made it into the team? Srinath replied: 'If he is good, he will take my place.' This response from Javagal Srinath also demonstrates the team spirit of that era.