Shortly after Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag began India’s campaign against Sri Lanka at Nagpur, Sourav Ganguly settled down in front of the TV set at Eden Gardens. Not in a corner of the pavilion, brows furrowed, fingernails being chewed to extinction, but in the recesses of the cavernous stadium, away from the public eye.He was taking a break after a gruelling 75-minute workout, part of the training frenzy that’s gripped him since his ton in the Duleep Trophy at Rajkot.The tennis elbow has been done away with, the bat has spoken for itself but Ganguly apparently isn’t convinced. Those who watched him train say he went all out trying the standard exercises of the Indian team. ‘‘He did a number of shuttle runs, exercised extremely hard, ran a lot’’, said an official present at the time.If he needed an ego massage, it came in the form of the Bangladesh Under-15 team, whose excited young players surrounded him and sought tips. Ganguly obliged, telling them how to pace the next five years of their lives.It was a moment of irony; a master nearing the end of his career with the pupils beginning theirs.
