When the leading deities of Indian cricket were playing Ranji Trophy in Mumbai, there was a daily dusk-time ritual being religiously followed at the Wankhede Stadium.

After the day’s play Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly would be escorted out of the ground, scurrying cameras keeping pace with reporters with recorders or microphones, and autograph hunters with pieces of paper to a VIP parking area where two VVIP cars were stationed.

It wasn’t about starry tantrums of superstar cricketers who weren’t travelling in the team bus, but about the special status the two individuals deserve. The talk about the inspirational presence of Ganguly and Tendulkar in the dressing room and the field was omnipresent at Wankhede as awe-struck team mates narrated the odds-defying comeback tales of the two.

Depending on one’s proximity to either the Bengal or Mumbai dressing room, the story centres around Ganguly’s amazing mental strength that made him an international star, or Tendulkar’s ever-youthful mind in an injury-ridden aging body.

Bengal’s trainer Chinmay Nandi, who has spent countless hours with Ganguly during his domestication, draws one picture that gives an idea about the long and lonely journey the former captain had undertaken before he got a recall for the South African tour.

“Imagine a hot afternoon with me and Dadi alone at Eden Gardens, toiling under the sun. This happens to be the same stadium where Ganguly has heard 80,000 fans screaming, even if he just walks on the field. This was during the initial days of our training together and the eerie silence made me realise how tough it was going to be for him,” he says.

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