Intro about GANGULY
Known as the Bengal Tiger of the Indian cricket team, Sourav Ganguly, former Indian cricketer, and captain of the Indian national team is arguably one of the most successful captains ever in the history of Indian cricket.
FULL NAME: SAURAV CHANDIDAS GANGULY
DATE OF BIRTH: 8th July 1972
BIRTH PLACE: Kolkata, West Bengal, India
WIFE'S NAME: Dona Roy
DAUGHTER'S NAME: SANA
NICK NAMES: Dada, Prince of Kolkata, Maharaja
BROTHER'S NAME : Snehasish Ganguly
DAD'S NAME: Chandi Das Ganguly
MAJOR TEAMS PLAYED: India, Bengal, Lancashire,
BATTING STYLE : Left Hand Bat
BOWLING STYLE : Right Arm Medium
About Ganguly
HIS FIRST STEP TOWARDS CRICKET
Ganguly, initially was not interested in playing cricket. He was interested in playing football and was playing football for his school team. Ganguly's first step towards cricket was a happy accident of fate. His elder brother Snehasish was an accomplished cricketer. He was a left-hander. So Sourav simply followed his brother and started playing with left hand. It was convenient for him because he could thus use his brother's cricket equipment. One fine day during his holidays, Sourav asked his father to get him enrolled in a cricket academy as he was finding difficult to pass his time and they enrolled due to ganguly's adomence.
HIS DEBAT IN INTERNATIONAL CRICKET
A hundred (121) for East Zone against West Zone in the Duleep Trophy in 1991 earned Sourav a place on the tour of Australia in 1991-92. He was played in only one One-day International match and was then forgotten for over four years. He thought that his career as an international cricketer was over. He was left alone to sort out his career, and to reinforce his shattered confidence, with some help from an English rugby team sports psychologist.But fate had more surprises in store. Sourav was chosen to tour England with the Indian team in 1996. Navjot SinghSidhu, his roommate on the tour, chose to walk out of the team after a misunderstanding with captain Azharuddin, while Sanjay Manjrekar was injured. Sourav thus got a chance to make his Test debut. There was a crescendo of criticism on his selection for the tour; that the Bengal lobby was at the base of his inclusion was the harsh and unanimous verdict. But all that lasted only till the second Test at Lord's where he blasted a superb century.
GANGULY and TENDULKAR - MOST DESTRUCTIVE OPENING PAIR IN THE WORLD
Some felt he couldn't play the bouncer, others swore that he was God on the off-side; some laughed at his lack of athleticism, others took immense pride in his ability to galvanise a side. Sourav Ganguly's ability to polarise opinion led to one of the most fascinating dramas in Indian cricket. Yet, nobody can dispute that he was India's most successful Test captain - forging a winning unit from a bunch of talented, but directionless, individuals - and nobody can argue about him being one of the greatest one-day batsmen of all time.
Despite being a batsman who combined grace with surgical precision in his strokeplay, his career had spluttered to a standstill before being resurrected by a scintillating hundred on debut at Lord's in 1996. Later that year, he was promoted to the top of the order in ODIs and, along with Sachin Tendulkar, formed one of the most destructive opening pairs in history. They are the best opening pairs for India and this pair made and broke many records and created new history.
GANGULY - AS A CAPTAIN
When he took over the captaincy after the match-fixing exposes in 2000, he quickly proved to be a tough, intuitive and uncompromising leader. Under his stewardship India started winning Test matches away. In just a few years, Sourav rewrote the rules of captaincy. Unlike some of his predecessors, he was impartial, non-parochial, and forever pushed his players to perform better.
NATWEST SERIES -2002
Chasing England's 325 for five, India finished on 326 for eight with three balls remaining. Indian skipper Saurav Ganguly, who celebrated the extraordinary win by ripping off his shirt and dancing round the balcony, said he had always thought they could snatch the trophy. "It was a fantastic performance by the team but merited on the way we played in the whole series,"he said. "I always thought given the great state of the pitch we were in with a chance," he added. Kaif's career-best One-day score came from 75 balls including two sixes and six fours. India was almost out of the game at 146 for five in the 24th over with 20-year-old Yuvraj Singh on three when 21-year-old Kaif came to the wicket. The pair stylishly brought India back into the game with a hundred partnership off 90 deliveries. Earlier Marcus Trescothick, who was named man-of-the-series, and England captain Nasser Hussain both made hundreds as England piled up 325 for five. Trescothick's 109 and Hussain's 115 runs couldn't even stop India's victory. Earlier Indian skipper , captian Ganguly' made fifty on 35 balls with his ninth four, off former Lancashire team-mate Andrew Flintoff. Tudor ended Ganguly's assault, the India captain bowled for 60, his side 106 for one. And eight runs later India lost its second wicket when Sehwag (49) was bowled by left-arm spinner Ashley Giles. Dinesh Mongia (9) fell next well-caught by wicket-keeper Alec Stewart standing up to the stumps off Ronnie Irani.Then Rahul Dravid (5) chipped Irani straight to Nick Knight at midwicket. And when Giles bowled India hero Sachin Tendulkar for a mere 14, England looked on course for victory.India got the target down to 11 runs off 12 balls and then two off six before they scrambled the winning runs.
WORLD CUP 2003
Despite political controversy over games to be played in Zimbabwe and Kenya, the suspension of Australian bowler Shane Warne (one of cricket’s leading stars) before a ball had been bowled, and the surprise elimination of host nation South Africa, the 2003 World Cup ended on a high note. After 54 matches spread over 43 days,India under the captaincy of most successful captain of India, Saurav Ganguly, successfully entered the world-cup finals. Indians though performed superbly in the tournament lost the cup after losing the game against Australians. They they lose the match they put together a splendid streak that took them all the way to the World Cup final in 2003.
India’s Sachin Tendulkar, named the Man of the Tournament, scored 673 runs (average 61.18), breaking his own world record for the tournament. Sadly, he failed when it really mattered, in the final, though an unbeaten 140 by Ponting had already effectively sealed the game and the trophy for the defending champions.
India in Australia and Pakistan
Later that year, in Australia, an unexpected and incandescent hundred at Brisbane set the tone for the series where India fought the world's best team to a standstill. Victory in Pakistan turned him into a cult figure but instead of being a springboard for greater things, it was the peak of a slippery slope.
HIS RETIREMENT
The beginning of the end came in 2004 at Nagpur - when his last-minute withdrawal played a part in Australia clinching the series - and things went pear shaped when his loss of personal form coincided with India's insipid ODI performances. Breaking point was reached when his differences with Greg Chappell leaked into public domain and his career was in jeopardy when India began their remarkable revival under Rahul Dravid.
His gritty 30s at Karachi, when India succumbed to a humiliating defeat in early 2006, weren't enough for him to retain his spot and some felt he would never get another chance. Others, as always, thought otherwise and they were proved right when he was included in the Test squad for the away series in South Africa in 2006-2007. He ended as the highest Indian run-scorer in that series and capped his fairytale comeback with four half-centuries on his return to ODIs. He continued his fine run in England, where he finished as the second highest scorer in Tests, and went on to slam back-to-back hundreds against Pakistan at home, the second of which was a glorious 239 runs in Bangalore.
Ganguly was surprisingly omitted from India's ODI squad for the CB Series in Australia and has been out of contention in the one-day squad since. After a poor Test series in Sri Lanka, there were reports of him considering retirement but he was given a lifeline in the Tests against Australia at home. Two days before the first Test, he said the series would be his last and retires along with Anil kumble.
Now in IPL
Though retired from International cricket, he'll play domestic matches for bengal and will be there in IPL for Kolkata kinght riders. He's the captian for KKR.
Dada’s hall of fame
# Sourav Ganguly holds the distinction of captaining India in a record 49 Test matches. He is also India’s most successful skipper with 21 Test wins. He is also India`s most successful ODI captain.
Ever since he slammed a ton on his debut, never has his Test average slipped below the 40 mark.
# He emerged as the highest ODI runs scorer in the world (in a calendar year) thrice- in 1997, 1999 and 2000.
# India has never lost a Test match whenever Ganguly has scored a ton! He shares with GR Viswanath, the record for scoring at least 10 or more centuries and his team either winning or drawing each and every match in which he scored a century.
# The Prince of Kolkata, as he was rechristened by Sir Geoffrey Boycott, briefly had to his name, the record for highest score by an Indian cricketer in an ODI — 183, against Sri Lanka during the 1999 World Cup. The record was however eclipsed by Sachin Tendulkar(now scored 200*) within 2 months when the latter slammed 186 against the Kiwis. He now shares the second spot with Mahendra Singh Dhoni .
# He is the third player to cross 10,000 ODI runs and so far the fastest one to do so, after Sachin Tendulkar and Inzamam ul Haq, and reached 6000, 7000, 8000 and 9000 ODI runs milestones in least number of matches played.
# He stands sixth on the all time list with 31 Man of the Match awards. He is also the only player to win 4 consecutive Man of the Match awards in ODIs.
In one-dayers he formed a formidable opening partnership with Sachin Tendulkar. He holds the record of most 200+ partnerships in ODIs (6 times) along with Tendulkar and Ricky Ponting.
# He held the record, shared for the highest first wicket partnership for India in an ODI match twice with Sachin Tendulkar. First the duo scored 252 against Sri Lanka in Colombo in 1998 and then bettered it when the struck 258 against Kenya in 2001. This record was bettered by Sri Lankan opening pair of Jayasuriya and Tharanga in 2006 at Headingley.
# He also shares with Tendulkar, the record for maximum 175+ runs partnerships in ODIs. The duo crossed 175 a whopping 7 times!
# Dada, as he fondly known, was involved in the first 300 run ODI partnership with Rahul Dravid.
# He is currently third in the list of hitting maximum number of sixes in ODIs.
# Commented as "The god of offside" by shane warne and by Dravid.
# Maximum run scorer along offside in the world
STATISTICS
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