Sourav Ganguly recalls breaching Pakistan's security on 2004 tour to eat roadside kebabs

Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) President and ex-India captain Sourav Ganguly has revealed a memorable incident from India's tour of Pakistan in 2004. In a recent interview with a leading publication, Ganguly opened up on how he managed to successfully slip through one night from the team hotel to enjoy the local cuisine in the neighbouring country despite heavy security arrangements. He had also written about the same incident in his autobiography 'A Century Is Not Enough: My Roller Coaster Ride to Success'.

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Sourav Ganguly slipped through security to enjoy local food in Pakistan

The 2004 tour of Pakistan was historic for a lot of reasons. It was a tour that was built on political diplomacy to ease out tensions between the archrivals. India defeated Pakistan 3-2 and 2-1 in both the ODI and Test series respectively and thereby scripted history by becoming the first Indian side to win both Test and ODI series on Pakistan soil after 50 years. Besides cricket, the players also enjoyed the local street food during their month and a half stay in Pakistan. 

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Ganguly went down memory lane and reminisced about the times when he used to slip out of the team hotel to have kebabs on the streets of Pakistan. He stated that the security given to the Indian team was really tight, so he had to formulate a secret plan to go out and have food. However, his plan had to be cut short after he was caught by Indian journalist Rajdeep Sardesai, who was also a dear friend to his and was heard by passers-by that the it was indeed Sourav Ganguly who was on the street eating kebabs. 

Subsequently, Ganguly was immediately recognized by Pakistani people, which made him run out of there back to the hotel with his group of people, despite wearing a cap and a handkerchief to hide his face. The former southpaw was then called up by the then Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf, who sternly asked him to let him directly know about requiring extra security for going out of the hotel rather than being involved in a security breach. Ganguly chuckled that he remembered Sardesai, hoping that he was watching the interview.

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Sourav Ganguly gets tired of Pakistan's security

Pakistan has historically been a difficult place to tour due to security issues. Ganguly went on to recall his first day on the tour when he came out of his room to find two security personnel with AK-47 and how he actually got so fed up that he requested the local manager to remove the security in front of his room. Ganguly believed that his Indian team was to play in Pakistan for 45 days, so the security guards should rather be stationed at the hotel lobby and not outside their rooms. He admitted that it was difficult to wake up every morning and see someone standing in front of them with an AK-47. The former India captain joked that if the security misfired, they didn't have to go till the lobby.

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