Sourav Ganguly has endured a challenging 26 months as BCCI President. But in an exclusive interview with PTI, the former India captain not just rejected the accusations thrown at him but also offered a gentle reminder to his critics -- much before becoming the BCCI boss, he was a celebrated India cricketer and played in a whopping 424 international matches, 113 of them Tests. Steering clear of the drama surrounding the end of Virat Kohli's captaincy tenure, Ganguly answered questions on other sensitive issues like the recently-announced resumption of the Ranji Trophy in two phases, the still awaited decision on India's new Test captain, and start of the Women's IPL. He also disclosed that the India-West Indies T20Is in Kolkata this month will be a "closed-door" affair and laughed when told about speculation of a possible rift with Board secretary Jay Shah. ExcerptsThere have been allegations that you have been influencing the selection committee and you sit in the meetings to put pressure on the selectors?I don't think I need to answer anybody anything (on this) and dignify any of these baseless accusations. I am the president of BCCI and I do the job of what the president of BCCI should be doing. Also just to let you know, I see a picture doing the rounds (of social media) showing me sitting in a selection committee meeting. I want to make it clear, that picture (where Ganguly can be seen sitting with secretary Jay Shah, skipper Virat Kohli and joint secretary Jayesh George) wasn't from a selection committee meeting. Jayesh George isn't a part of selection committee meetings. (I have played) 424 international matches for India. Not a bad idea at times to remind people about it, isn't it? (laughs)
