15 years after Sourav Ganguly removed his team jersey and waved it on the balcony of the iconic Lord’s stadium, the former Indian captain has expressed regret for the incident. In what is regarded as one of the historic scenes in Indian Cricket history, where India beat England in the Natwest Tri-Series final, Ganguly had taken off his jersey as Zaheer Khan hit the winning runs.

In a recent interview, the former Indian captain revealed, “I would not do it again. I come from a very conservative (and) shy Bengali family. It just happened in the heat of the moment. I think the perception I had when I played the sport was different. They took the perception on the field as what I was, and off the field, I was a completely different person. I had to put on this attitude of mine because I wanted everybody to be up and winning cricket matches.”

When asked about why he regrets the incident, Ganguly said, “I regret it because there are better ways to show the happiness of winning and beating England at Lord’s, at their backyard; probably that was not the way.” The former Indian captain said, “Everybody tells me that it is one of the most defining moment and I keep telling them that I wish I hadn’t done it. It is not who I am.”

Talking about himself, Ganguly said that he is not that sort of person, who’d take the shirt off and get agitated. He said that he is a very docile person, but the cricket field turned out to be a different thing.

Watch Former captain Sourav Ganguly in a candid confession about the incident of 15 years ago!

The Indian team went through a never-before-seen transformation during his stint as captaincy. Ganguly was a fiery captain and his captaincy saw India becoming one of the most dominating forces in world cricket. Ganguly is also regarded as one of the greatest captains India has produced. It is widely believed that team India is reaping fruits (success) from seeds which had been sown by Sourav Ganguly during his time as Indian captain.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Feb 27, 2018 05:55 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).