He was the manager of the Indian cricket team during its
memorable Natwest Trophy triumph over England at Lord’s way back in 2002 and
Rajiv Shukla on Monday revealed that Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and VVS
Laxman refused then skipper Sourav Ganguly’s request of taking off their shirts
and waving it.
Shukla, who was sitting by Ganguly’s side at the Lord’s
balcony, recollected that evening’s incident.
“I remember Sourav wanted to give it back to Andrew
Flintoff, who had taken off his jersey and waved at the crowd in Mumbai.
Actually Sourav wanted the whole team to take off their jerseys and wave it.
But Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman all had politely
declined Sourav’s request of doing the same,” Shukla said at a ‘Cricket
Conclave’ organised by a private channel.
His revelation came in the context of whether ‘Cricket
remains a Gentleman’s Game’ after all these years. “It’s upto the individual to
decide what he wants to do and what does gentleman’s game mean to him,” Shukla
said.
