IANS

London, Jul 17: Former India cricket captain Sourav Ganguly has been awarded an Honorary Fellowship by the University of Lancashire.

The 37-year-old Ganguly said that he was honoured and wants to build better ties with Lancashire.

"It is a huge honour. When I came to know about this a few months ago, I felt proud and I'm happy to be here. I have a long-term association with Lancashire - I had my first one-day international at Old Trafford 13 years ago and had a stint with Lancashire County Cricket Club," Ganguly was quoted as saying by the Lancashire Evening Post.

"The best thing I remember about Lancashire was in April 2000 when I turned up with the temperature being 10 degrees. I was standing in the slips and couldn't take my hands out of my pockets as it was so cold.

"Luckily, Michael Atherton asked me to go at mid-on where I put some hand warmers in my pockets and kept myself warm," he added.

Dharma Kovvuri, university's acting dean of its management faculty, says the institution wants to build on relations with India after setting up an office in Delhi in 2002.

"It's a great honour for the university that we have been able to nominate Sourav and it's great he has accepted. He has been a great ambassador for Indian cricket and as we all know, he has been the most successful Indian cricket captain and for him to accept the award from the university is a great honour for us," he said.