Father wanted me to retire after Chappell episode: Sourav Ganguly

Recalling one of the most controversial periods of Indian cricket, Ganguly said: "..when Greg Chappell had kept me out of the team and I was desperately fighting to claw my way back, he had wanted me to retire, unable to bear his son’s struggle."

"Then I had resisted. I had told him, Bapi, you wait. I will be back. I still have cricket left in me."

"When I grow older I don’t want to sit on my sofa and tell myself, Sourav, you gave up when the going was tough. You should have tried harder. I wanted to catch the bull by its horns and win.," he added.

Chappell had allegedly asked Ganguly to leave his place for Mohammad Kaif in 2005 to which the former Indian skipper refused.

After Ganguly sparked the news in the media, he was not only dethroned from captaincy but also dropped from the national side for almost a year.

In late 2006, he made a strong comeback to the national side and was successful with the bat across all formats for the next 18 months.

Ganguly has also recounted how he took the decision to quit the game in 2008, in a very different approach which he had shown three years ago.

The skipper said in the book that he was "agitated" to the mindset of the selectors when it came down to his selection.

Ganguly said: "The message was crystal clear – that a veteran of 100-plus Test matches, a certain Sourav Ganguly, was again on trial."

"I felt extremely agitated. That is when I told my father that I needed to call it a day. Enough was enough. My father was a bit surprised.," he added.

He even said it was then Indian Test captain Anil Kumble who had suggested him to think deeper over the decision of retirement but Ganguly was sure of his future.

"I of course had a chat with Anil before I reached Chennai. He told me, don’t decide anything in a hurry. Give it some time. I assured him I would. But deep down I knewmy time was up. I made up my mind that I would give everything I had to be successful in this series."

Ganguly had announced his retirement in the beginning of Border-Gavaskar Trophy in which India had demolished Australia 2-0.

The former skipper scored a century in Mohali and narrowly missed the second in his last Test by 15 runs.

Ganguly has also lauded Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who was captaining the last match against Australia due to Kumble's sudden retirement in between the series, saying he couldn't turn down the latter's request to lead the side on the final day.

"As the match came to a close, Mahendra Singh Dhoni in a surprise gesture asked me to lead. I had rejected his offer earlier in the day, but could not refuse a second time.....But I must admit, at that stage, I found it difficult to focus. So after three overs I handed it back to Dhoni saying, it is your job, MS. We both smiled."

Ganguly had captained India between 2000 and 2005 and he is often hailed as the founder of "Team India" following the match fixing scandal that disrupted Indian cricket for sometime.

The autobiography, co-authored by journalist Gautam Bhattacharya, will be published by Juggernaut Books.

The book is expected to be launched in the last week of February.