India, May 17 -- Sourav Ganguly's latest comments on Rahul Dravid offer more than a nostalgic anecdote. They reopened one of the most consequential tactical decisions in Indian cricket, a move that helped preserve Dravid's ODI career while reshaping the team structure ahead of the 2003 World Cup.

Speaking on Raj Shamani's podcast, Ganguly reflected on his leadership philosophy of publicly backing players while privately addressing hard truths. The example he chose was Dravid.

"There was a phase when Rahul Dravid was getting picked in ODIs. But people used to say his strike rate was not good enough. Selectors would say maybe someone else needed to be picked. But I did not leave him, because if I had left him, it could have finished him,"...