For three and a half decades, Sachin Tendulkar has seen Sourav Ganguly in various avatars -- a precocious teenager, a talented India contender, a stylish batter, a leader and a busy administrator.
But for India's greatest ever batter, what has stood the test of time is their friendship which is still intact and solid, long after they have both stopped playing international cricket.
As the BCCI president turns 50 on Friday, his "opening partner" opened up with PTI, sharing many insights into their friendship and how he looked at Ganguly as a future captain when he himself was leading India. The Boyhood years They had first met at a BCCI-organised junior tournament in Kanpur and then spent a lot of time together at an annual camp in Indore which used be conducted by BCCI with late Vasu Paranjape being in-charge. "We played against each other in Kanpur in a tournament before the camp in Indore.
We had also gone to England representing the Star Cricket Club under Kailash Gattani. "But the Under-15 camp in Indore was possibly when we spent so much time together and got to know each other.