Sourav Ganguly has worn many hats over the years, the latest being that of the president of the BCCI, but it's Sourav Ganguly the India captain that people still remember with the most fondness. Chatting with Ganguly a couple of days before his 48th birthday, on the board's official website, Mayank Agarwal got him to reminisce about his playing days, and also act as India's Test captain, if only for a while. Excerpts from the interaction.

Five players from the current lot he would have wanted in his Test team

It's a very tough question, Mayank, because I feel every generation the players are different, players face challenges differently in different generations, pitches, quality of opposition, even the change of the cricket ball - Kookaburra during my era and your era has completely been changed, maybe because of the leather, because the lacquer on the ball has changed. But on a humorous note, on a lighter note - and I hope nobody feels this generation is better than the other or that generation is weaker than the other because we unnecessarily get into such debates and for me, that has no meaning. From your current team, I would have loved to have Virat Kohli in the side, Rohit Sharma in the side… I will not pick you at the moment because I had Virender Sehwag at the other end, you're my third opener. I will go for [Jasprit] Bumrah because I had Zaheer [Khan] at the other end, who I thought was exceptional. I would also go for Mohammed Shami after Javagal Srinath retired, because I think Mohammed Shami is a fantastic bowler. So I've got Rohit, I've got Virat, I've got Bumrah, I've got Shami, so I've got four. I had Harbhajan [Singh] and Anil Kumble in my side, so [R] Ashwin would be my third spinner. I would be very tempted to have Ravindra Jadeja also.

He made Steve Waugh wait at the toss during the 2001 series - fact or fiction?

It was an accident actually. In the first Test match, I left my blazer back in the dressing room. They were such a good side, and I was very nervous in that series because it was my first big series as captain and up against a fantastic cricket team. In the last 25-30 years, I haven't seen a cricket team as good as Australia in that generation. So initially it was [just that] I forgot my blazer in that first Test, but then I realised that he [Waugh] reacted to it. He reacted, and then he was not taking it very seriously, and it was working on them, working on the team, the way they play, the way they go about their… they were a bit grumpy with all that. And it worked for us, we won the series 2-1. But having said that, Steve Waugh is a dear friend, he has always been a friend, and I have tremendous respect for him as a cricketer, and it was all in good humour.

"The best players in the shorter format have the ability to hit boundaries at will. You look over a period of time, in the history of one-day cricket, the best players can find the fence under pressure consistently. And MS Dhoni was one of them, and that's why he was special"

Did Sachin Tendulkar force him to take strike when they opened together in ODIs?

Always, always he did. He had an answer to that. I used to tell him, "Yaar, sometimes you also face the first ball, I am always facing the first ball." He said he had two answers to it. One, he believed when his form was good it should continue, that he should remain at the non-striker's end, and then when his form wasn't good, he said, "I should remain at the non-striker's end because it takes the pressure off me." So he had an answer for both, good form and bad form. Until and unless you walked past him and stood at the non-striker's end, and he was already on TV and he would be forced to be at the striker's end. And that has happened one or two times, I have just walked past him and stood at the non-striker's end.

On pushing for MS Dhoni's inclusion in the side during his captaincy days

Yes, that's true, but that's my job, isn't it? That's every captain's job, to pick the best and make the best team possible. You go by your instincts, you go by faith on that player, that he will deliver for you, and I am happy that Indian cricket got a Mahendra Singh Dhoni, because he is unbelievable. One of the great players in world cricket, I would say, not just finisher. I think everyone talks about how he finishes lower down the order, [but] he batted at No. 3 when I was captain and he got 140 [148] against Pakistan in Vizag, I think. The old stadium. It was fantastic. So I always believed that he should bat up the order because he is so destructive. The best players in the shorter format have the ability to hit boundaries at will. You look over a period of time, in the history of one-day cricket, the best players can find the fence under pressure consistently. And MS Dhoni was one of them, and that's why he was special.