Tendulkar, Dravid refused to take off shirts at Lord's, says Natwest 2002 team manager

Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman refused to remove their shirts when skipper Sourav Ganguly asked them to do it as a way of hitting back at Andrew Flintoff after winning the NatWest Trophy at the Lord’s in 2002. This was disclosed by Rajiv Shukla, who was the Manager of the Indian cricket team during that tri-series when he recollected that evening’s incident at a ‘Cricket Conclave’. Shukla, who was sitting by Ganguly’s side at the Lord’s balcony, today recollected that evening’s incident. [caption id=“attachment_1478139” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  File photo of Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly. AFP[/caption] “I remember Sourav wanted to give it back to Andrew Flintoff, who had taken off his jersey and waved at the crowd in Mumbai. Actually Sourav wanted the whole team to take off their jerseys and wave it. But Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman all had politely declined Sourav’s request of doing the same,” Shukla said. His revelation came in the context of whether ‘Cricket remains a Gentleman’s Game’ after all these years. “It’s upto the individual to decide what he wants to do and what does gentleman’s game mean to him,” Shukla said. PTI