A dressing room prank intended to lighten the mood ahead of a high-pressure series against Pakistan once pushed former India captain Sourav Ganguly to the verge of offering his resignation, former spinner Harbhajan Singh has revealed.

The incident took place on April Fool’s Day in 2005 in Kochi, just 24 hours before India was scheduled to kick off an intense one-day international series against arch-rivals Pakistan. With nerves already frayed, Harbhajan teamed up with Yuvraj Singh to stage an elaborate ruse targeting their skipper.

Fabricated Clippings and Senior Backing

The duo walked into the dressing room carrying fabricated newspaper clippings containing fake quotes attributed to Ganguly. In the forged articles, Ganguly appeared to launch scathing attacks on his teammates, calling them irresponsible, distant, and labeling Yuvraj and Zaheer Khan as "party animals."

Speaking to news agency PTI, Harbhajan recounted the drama: "Puri team baithi hui thi (the entire team was sitting) when we created this drama and decided that we will make an April Fool of Dada. Yuvi started it: 'Dada, what is this statement that you have given to the press?' He told him that you have called Yuvi party animal, Harbhajan ko kisi ki padi nahi hai, Ashish Nehra is also in his own world and Zaheer Khan also parties a lot."

Ganguly was left completely stunned and protested his innocence. However, the prank reached another level of authenticity when senior stalwarts Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid, who had been briefed on the scheme beforehand, stepped in to play along.

"We had already spoken to the seniors about this," Harbhajan explained. "I told Paaji (Tendulkar), 'Paaji, you tell him'. And he said, 'Dada, if you have done this, this is wrong'. Rahul Dravid was also playing along, so he also said, 'Dada, this is not done, yaar'. When two senior players said that, Dada thought (this must be genuine)."

Ganguly's Emotional Response

Distraught by the prospect that his dressing room believed the reports, an emotional Ganguly went so far as to put his leadership on the line.

"He said 'I swear, I didn't do this. I'll give up the captaincy if (it's proved that) I did this'," Harbhajan recalled.

To push the situation further, Harbhajan and a few other players picked up their kitbags and staged a walkout. Ganguly quickly ran after them, pleading with the squad to focus on the crucial match the following day. The act eventually unraveled when one of the players could no longer keep a straight face and burst into laughter.

Looking back, Harbhajan highlighted the warmth and brotherly bond Ganguly shared with his squad: "Dada was the kind of captain whom we could fool that day, but later we felt, 'Yaar, we've really put this decent man through it.' If it had been some other captain, he would genuinely have made us pick up our bags and told us, 'Get out of here and go home'. But he was like a big brother."