IPL franchise Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) released rare footage of BCCI president Sourav Ganguly’s motivational speech back in 2008. He was the captain of KKR in the inaugural edition of the IPL. He played four editions of the marquee league, before announcing retirement from all forms of cricket.

On the occasion of his 49th birthday, KKR tweeted an unseen video of Sourav Ganguly making a speech. The room was filled with KKR players, including ‘Rawalpindi Express’, Shoaib Akhtar. The footage was released by the Kolkata franchise with the caption:

“Unseen footage from 2008 – Sourav Ganguly’s motivating speech in #KKR Team meeting.”

Unseen footage from 2008 – Sourav Ganguly’s motivating speech in #KKR Team meeting 💫 #HappyBirthdayDada @SGanguly99 #KKR #FromTheArchives pic.twitter.com/IRi57mB5TU

— KolkataKnightRiders (@KKRiders) July 8, 2021

“There’s always light at the end of the tunnel” – Sourav Ganguly

The former Indian captain had a few words of encouragement for the team members. Since it was the first edition of the IPL, there were several uncapped players. In the video, Ganguly said:

“All I wanted to say is that I’ve been around for 14 years in international cricket. I’ve seen good days and I’ve seen bad days. I’ll just give you two examples. These are examples but these have actually happened…”

Ganguly goes on to mention the infamous spat between former India coach Greg Chappell and himself. During that era, there was a lot of unrest among the Indian seniors. It eventually led to the resignation of Chappell.

“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 come back. Everyone, even my Dad at home. He used to tell me once a week that, ‘Just forget it. You’ve played enough. You’ve played 300 ODI’s and 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.” he added.

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