In 2005, when Sourav Ganguly had toured Sri Lanka for the tri-series as the squad’s 16th member, not many would have expected the trip to be the beginning of a great fall.

During that tour, however, Ganguly’s kitbag, in which he is known to carry a dozen bats, had a note pasted on the inside. “To be successful, you have to believe in yourself. A strong-willed man leads his own way,” it said.

Asked what that note meant to him and where it came from, he quietly replied: “My wife gave it to me.”

Dona, his better half, the lady who’s been with Ganguly through the highs and lows walked up to the stage at a hotel in Karachi on Friday to represent her husband and collect the Asian cricketer of the year and Asian Test player of the year awards. Dona said these awards “were a result of his determination and hard work.”

Ganguly was nominated for the award for a string of big scores in the season gone by. At the top of the table is his double-hundred in Bangalore against Pakistan, his first-ever Test hundred at Eden Gardens and the innings he played in the Trent Bridge Test in England last year. “It’s been a good year and I am proud to be honoured with this award,” Ganguly said in a televised speech. He couldn’t attend the function as he is currently with his ailing father in England.

The left-hander, India’s most successful captain, is not a part of the one-day squad any more and therefore not a member of the Asia Cup team.

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