Some Indian scribes believed that former Indian captain Sourav Ganguly did to Australians what exactly Arjuna Ranatunga had done to them years ago.

In that incident-packed 2001 series, Ganguly caught the Australians off guard in their own game and Steve Waugh was not able to conquer the final frontier. Gamesmanship was something that the Australians had mastered over the years and that played a pivotal role as they remained on top of world cricket in both forms of the game starting from the late ’90s.

In that series he kept Waugh waiting by not arriving on time for the toss and subsequently when the media asked him the reasons for his repeated late arrival for the toss, he would say tongue in cheek, that he was too busy tying his shoe lace.

Soon after Ganguly announced his retirement, ‘The Island’ interviewed a host of former and present Sri Lankan greats and Aravinda de Silva probably summed up his contemporary’s career better than anyone else.

"He basically changed the attitude of the team and the players. As a captain, he didn’t respect the opposition and got the team to believe in themselves and his arrogance as the captain helped him to change the attitude on the field. It rubbed down on all the other players as well. It helped them to approach the game with the Australians," the former batting great told ‘The Island’. Sanath Jayasuriya, meanwhile, felt that he was at his best when the team had their backs to the wall.

The 2001 series in Sri Lanka against the Indians was a closely contested one and Ganguly, the captain of the side, started off the series putting the hosts under tremendous pressure. Sri Lanka’s batting, particularly the middle order, had been struggling as South Africa held them to 1-1 series draw coming from behind in Sri Lanka while England also coming from behind, after an innings defeat, had won the series 2-1 in the same year.

In both series, Sri Lanka’s batting woes were exposed and still there were arguments that the Sri Lankan selectors were wrong in forcing the likes of Arjuna Ranatunga and Roshan Mahanama to retire while Aravinda de Silva was unceremoniously dumped. Ganguly knew the internal politics and at the series launch in Galle he commented saying: "Sri Lanka’s batting revolves around two players. One is nearing retirement while the other is aging," he said of Jayasuriya and de Silva and spurred by the comments, Kumar Sangakkara went onto stroke his maiden Test hundred in Galle.

But that was Ganguly. He was there not to make friends and whenever he saw a moment to take advantage, he did exactly that as an Indian with an Australia’s attitude.

In that series, after India had been beaten in the first Test, he led from front as the tourists squared the series in Kandy with Ganguly making an unbeaten 98.

He also reserved his best against the Sri Lankans as he scored his career best in ODIs, a fine 183, where he added a record 318-run stand with Rahul Dravid for the second wicket and averaged over 46 in Tests against Sri Lanka, better than his career average, which stood at 41.74.

Having done so well against the Lankans, it was a tour of Sri Lanka that finally marked an end to his career as he had a disastrous campaign here two months back where he scored just 96 in six innings. Ganguly, who had enjoyed resounding success against Muttiah Muralitharan, a luxury most top class left-handers enjoyed, he finally succumbed to the off-spinner five of the six times.

"Earlier in his career, he used to play me really well. He was an exceptional player of spin, but towards the end, I think, the pressure got to him," Muralitharan told ‘The Island’.

Apart from winning the 2001 series against the Australians, he also captained India to a World Cup final, where they were beaten by Australia and then squared a four-match Test series in Australia when Waugh’s men were thrashing all teams at home.

In that series, his 144 in Brisbane on a fast wicket proved he could deliver the goods in all conditions and the man who had helped him with technical input, Greg Chappell, was recommended by Ganguly to take over the Indian coaching position a year later from John Wright. But, an ugly split between the coach and the captain in 2006 resulted in Ganguly losing his job and his place in the side.

Muralitharan also told ‘The Island’ that any player who averages more than 40 in ODIs after playing over 300 ODIs had to be a great player and ranked him as one of the five best one-day cricketers he had played with or against.

Chaminda Vaas, meanwhile, felt that Ganguly had been very much underrated as he played in an era where the Indian side had a host of star batsmen.

"He was very effective. He didn’t get all the accolades he deserved, but he did the job for the country," Vaas said, probably speaking with his own experience, having performed a similar role in a Sri Lankan context.