BANGALORE // The India batsman Sourav Ganguly said yesterday his decision to retire could not have come at a more opportune time. He also denied that the decision was rushed into.
"I just felt it was time for me to go," Ganguly told Cricinfo, adding that he had arrived at it after he was ignored for the Irani Cup. "Obviously I can't deny the fact that I was disappointed after the Irani Cup selection.
"To be honest, I felt I had two outstanding years except the Sri Lanka series."
The middle-order batsman has scored 1,667 in 21 Tests at 45.05 in the last two years.
When asked why he faced greater scrutiny than his other senior colleagues, he said: "Probably people didn't like my face."
Asked if there was a sense of relief now, Ganguly said: "The pressure of doing well will always be there and that probably brings the best out of everyone. Whether it's a relief or not, all I can say is I've not been sad."
He also denied he wanted to stick around for two more years.
Meanwhile, an angry Anil Kumble lashed out at the media yesterday for dwelling on the retirement plans of the senior players ahead of the upcoming Australia series.
Kumble, who turns 38 on Oct 17, was bombarded with questions of his future, following Ganguly's decision to call it quits.
"I will not say yes or no," Kumble said when asked if the Australian series would also be his last. "I will let you know when I play my last series. Let the players decide when they want to go."
Speculation about Kumble's future mounted yesterday when he wrote in the Hindustan Times that this would be his last Test in his home city of Bangalore.
"By the time you read this on Wednesday, some hours would have passed since Sourav announced that this would be his last series," Kumble wrote.
"[This would be] marking the last time that some of us who've played together for India for long - Sourav himself, Sachin [Tendulkar], Rahul [Dravid], [VVS] Laxman and I - would be playing a Test series together.
Asked specifically what his plans were in the context of his remarks and whether he would be announcing his retirement after the series, Kumble shot back: "I don't know which newspaper you are referring to. There are millions of newspapers in India and a lot is written in all of them.
"Our focus will be to perform as a team," he said.
"We are really satisfied by the way we have gone with our preparations for the series. We hope to play good cricket throughout."
* Agencies
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Uefa Nations League: How it works
The Uefa Nations League, introduced last year, has reached its final stage, to be played over five days in northern Portugal. The format of its closing tournament is compact, spread over two semi-finals, with the first, Portugal versus Switzerland in Porto on Wednesday evening, and the second, England against the Netherlands, in Guimaraes, on Thursday.
The winners of each semi will then meet at Porto’s Dragao stadium on Sunday, with the losing semi-finalists contesting a third-place play-off in Guimaraes earlier that day.
Qualifying for the final stage was via League A of the inaugural Nations League, in which the top 12 European countries according to Uefa's co-efficient seeding system were divided into four groups, the teams playing each other twice between September and November. Portugal, who finished above Italy and Poland, successfully bid to host the finals.
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Saturday (All UAE kick-off times)
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Tax authority targets shisha levy evasion
The Federal Tax Authority will track shisha imports with electronic markers to protect customers and ensure levies have been paid.
Khalid Ali Al Bustani, director of the tax authority, on Sunday said the move is to "prevent tax evasion and support the authority’s tax collection efforts".
The scheme’s first phase, which came into effect on 1st January, 2019, covers all types of imported and domestically produced and distributed cigarettes. As of May 1, importing any type of cigarettes without the digital marks will be prohibited.
He said the latest phase will see imported and locally produced shisha tobacco tracked by the final quarter of this year.
"The FTA also maintains ongoing communication with concerned companies, to help them adapt their systems to meet our requirements and coordinate between all parties involved," he said.
As with cigarettes, shisha was hit with a 100 per cent tax in October 2017, though manufacturers and cafes absorbed some of the costs to prevent prices doubling.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
