Sourav Ganguly is a former Indian cricket captain and the country’s second-highest ODI run scorer. Because of his exceptional talent at playing shots on the off side, he was dubbed the “God of Offside.”
He began batting left-handed despite being a right-handed batsman in order to use his brother’s cricket kit.
He was born in Behala, Kolkata, on July 8, 1972. Sourav became interested in cricket after seeing his older brother, Snehashish, play for the Bengal side. They constructed a pair of practise pitches at home and began honing Sourav’s skills on them.
Domestic career
Sourav climbed through the ranks as a result of his school cricket achievements. At the age of 18, he made his Ranji Trophy debut in the Eden Gardens final between Bengal and Delhi. Bengal were declared champions despite the match ending in a draw.
International Debut
In January 1992, he made his ODI debut against the West Indies, based on his performances in the domestic competition. He not only stumbled in his first attempt, but he also became known for his rude demeanour.
He was then immediately cut from the national team, forcing him to return to domestic competitions. In the following two Ranji Trophy seasons, he had a lot of success. He played a superb innings of 171 in a Duleep Trophy match just before India’s tour of England, and was picked to play for India once more.
At Lord’s, he made his test debut and scored the highest score (131) by any batsman on debut. In the first innings of his second test, he scored another century, becoming just the third batsman in history to score centuries in both innings of their career.
From 1997 to the 1999 World Cup, Ganguly scored 1533 test runs, including four hundred and eight fifties, and 3237 ODI runs, including six hundred and twenty-three fifties. During the 1999 World Cup, he reached his career high of 183 runs in one-day internationals.
Captaincy
Sourav Ganguly was elected captain of the ODI team in 2000. He was instrumental in the team’s first series win over South Africa. He also led the teams to the finals of the ICC Knockout Trophy in 2000. About the fact that the team did not win many medals, it made a point that India could fight in foreign countries as well.
In 2001, India shattered Australia’s record of winning 16 straight test matches under Ganguly’s captaincy.
Sourav’s career high point came during the Natwest Series, when India defeated England in an ODI at Lord’s and he swayed his T-shirt from the Lord’s balcony. It was in response to Andrew Flintoff’s swaying T-shirt at Mumbai’s Wankhede Stadium. He also led the squad to the finals of the 2003 ICC World Cup, where they were defeated by Australia.
Though his captaincy was improving, his batting performances were deteriorating. He was cut from the roster in 2005.
As Greg Chappell was appointed India team coach in 2007, the bad luck persisted. Greg was a villain for India because he had disagreements with several senior players, including Ganguly. Sourav was deemed mentally and physically unfit to lead Team India by Greg.
Club Career
In terms of Indian cricket’s success, the year 2008 was a watershed moment. The Indian Premier League had started, and the ‘Prince of Calcutta’ had been named captain of the Kolkata Knight Riders, a team owned by Bollywood star Shah Rukh Khan.
He was a member of the KKR until 2010. The now-defunct Pune Warriors India signed him in 2011.
He was with them for two seasons before retiring from the IPL.
Retirement
In October 2008, he announced his retirement from international cricket, with the test series against Australia being his last match.
Post Retirement
After retiring, Ganguly returned to the commentary box and is now an active administrator for the BCCI and ICC. He has been appointed President of the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) and President of the Wisden India editorial board.
Sourav Ganguly’s Stats
Ganguly, who is known around the world as “Dada,” has played 113 Test matches and scored 7212 runs, including 16 centuries and 35 fifties. As a right-arm medium pace bowler, he has 32 Test wickets to his credit.
He appeared in 311 One-Day Internationals and scored 11221 runs, making him India’s second-highest ODI run scorer. There are 22 centuries and 72 fifties in this collection. He had a total of 100 ODI wickets.
Post Retirement
After retiring, Ganguly returned to the commentary box and is now an active administrator for the BCCI and ICC. He has been appointed President of the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) and President of the Wisden India editorial board.