Heads Dada wins, tails Ponting loses: When Sourav Ganguly pranked the Australian captain while tossing by calling him ‘head-tail’

Ricky Ponting (left) and Sourav Ganguly Sourav Ganguly is widely regarded as one of the most influential captains in the history of Indian cricket. During his career, “Dada” was known for some memorable moments on and off the field, from keeping Steve Waugh waiting at the toss and celebrating shirtless on the balcony at Lord’s to clashes with coaches Greg Chappell and John Buchanan, falling out with Shane Warne and refusing to walk after Graeme Smith took a catch.But former Australia captain Michael Clarke shared another story that shows a lighter side of Ganguly.In his book Eleven Gods and a Billion Indiansauthor Boria Majumdar quotes Clarke as recalling the Ganguly-Ricky Ponting incident during the India toss, although Clarke admits he does not remember which match it was.“One of Clarke’s favorite anecdotes goes like this: Ganguly and Ricky Ponting were at the toss during one of the matches in India – Clarke doesn’t remember exactly which one – and Ponting had a coin in his hand. Ganguly, if Clarke is to be believed, said, ‘Heads-tails.’“Trust me dude, that’s what Ricky told me,” Clarke says, cracking up. “Ricky said he couldn’t understand what happened to Dada when she said Head-Tail. (And apparently it was said at lightning speed.) It took Ricky a second or two to come to grips with the situation and meanwhile he said Ricky, we just picked her up and we picked her up. India won the toss and Ricky didn’t really know what to do or say and all he did was tell us in the dressing room exactly what happened at the toss,” Clarke was quoted as saying in the book.Clarke is not sure in which match the incident took place.According to available records, Ganguly won five tosses against Ricky Ponting and all of them came outside India; twice during the 2003 World Cup and three times in the 2003–04 WC series. That said, Clarke may have got the venue wrong when recalling the story, because if the match had been played in India, it would have been Ponting who bowled.However, Clarke makes it clear that he does not remember the exact match in which the incident happened.