Kolkata : Michael Clarke and India, have special bond, be it rivalry, or emotion.
The former Aussie skipper made his debut against Indian team led by Sourav Ganguly in 2004 at Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru. Clarke smashed 151 (248) in the very first innings of his Test career that too against India in their home ground, earned man of the match, as Australia crushed India by 217 runs in that Match.
At that time, Sourav Ganguly changed the direction of Indian Cricket by revamping the team with young talents like Virender Sehwag, Zaheer Khan, Md Kaif, Yuvraj Singh, Harbhajan Singh, VVS Laxman, and so on.
This fact was acknowledged by Clarke himself on June 14, 2025 in an interview at Bengal Pro T20 2025, where he threw back the time.
He said that playing against India led by Sourav Ganguly was always special. According to him, Sourav changed Indian Cricket’s direction, and took on Australian team in particular, never looked back, and was significantly involved in success of Indian Cricket.
“Playing against India was always special. Sourav (Ganguly) changed direction of Indian Cricket, he’s a brilliant leader, took on particularly Australian team & never took back step. Players/leaders after him have done same thing. He’s a player who deserves so much respect, he’s played big & significantly involved in success if Indian Cricket”.
Concluding this, he expressed his love for Kolkata and it’s delicacies like Sweets and Biriyani.
