Indian cricket legend Saurav Ganguly visited Dhaka Thursday to attend the grand launching program of the Dhaka North City Corporation Mayor Cup 2023 as the chief guest.
Former India captain and Board of Control for Cricket in India president Ganguly was also scheduled to attend promotional curriculum of India's ICICI Bank later in the evening.
Cricket, football and volleyball are on the agenda in the DNCC Mayor Cup 2023 where players from the Dhaka North City Corporation territory are set to participate.
The tournament is slated to begin in March.
In the launching ceremony held at a city hotel, Ganguly refrained from making comment on current cricket and politics and rather chose to speak on his relation with Bangladesh that's dated from his U-19 days.
“It becomes hard for me to differentiate between India and Bangladesh for the love I get when I am here. I would like to thank everyone for the love they give me here. We have a similar event in India like the DNCC Mayor Cup. In Kolkata we have football and cricket tournament but in Dhaka we have volleyball, basketball, cricket and football,” said Ganguly addressing the media.
“I first came to Bangladesh in 1989 to play U-19 Asia Cup. I am related to the people of Bangladesh since then. Iftekhar Rahman Mithu [Bangladesh Cricket Board director] is a good friend to me. I might not have visited Bangladesh in last 10 years but I am in regular touch with him. I had my debut as Test captain in Bangladesh and it was historic because the game was Bangladesh's maiden Test match. Bangladesh had probably taken lead in the first innings of the game and I was worried that I might be losing my first game as captain. But we bounced back and won the game. A very important chapter of my life is in Bangladesh,” the former all-rounder added.
Dhaka North City Corporation Mayor Atiqul Islam praised and thanked Ganguly for making time for the social event without any commercial agreement.
“I want to thank Ganguly because he did not take any money to come to the opening ceremony of the Mayor Cup. I told him that I am organizing this Mayor Cup to send a message against drugs to the future generations. There is no alternative to sports in order to build a drug-free country. This competition is to encourage our children to play sports, to say no to drugs and he loved it," said Atiqul.