Sourav Ganguly: As Far As One-Day Cricket Is Concerned, Dhoni Is One Of The Greatest Captains Of All Times: B’day Special
Sourav Ganguly was born on 8 July 1972 in Calcutta and is the youngest son of Chandidas and Nirupa Ganguly. Chandidas ran a flourishing print business and was one of the richest men in the city. Ganguly had a luxurious childhood and was nicknamed the ‘Maharaja’, meaning the ‘Great King’.
Sourav Ganguly affectionately known as Dada (meaning “elder brother” in Bengali), is an Indian cricket commentator and former cricketer and captain of the Indian National Team, Currently, he is appointed as the President of the Cricket Association of Bengal and President of the Editorial Board with Wisden India.
Dada is regarded as one of India’s most successful captains in modern times, and one of the greatest ODI batsmen of all time. He started his career by playing in state and school teams. Currently, he is the 8th highest run scorer in One Day Internationals (ODIs) and was the 3rd batsman in history to cross the 10,000 run landmark, after Sachin Tendulkar and Inzamam Ul Haq. In 2002, the Wisden Cricketer’s Almanack ranked him the sixth greatest ODI batsman of all time, next to Viv Richards, Sachin Tendulkar, Brian Lara, Dean Jones and Michael Bevan.
He led India into the 2003 World Cup final, where they were defeated by Australia. Due to a decrease in individual performance, he was dropped from the team in the following year. Ganguly was awarded the Padma Shri in 2004, one of India’s highest civilian awards. He returned to the National team in 2006 and made successful batting displays. Around this time, he became involved in a dispute with Indian team coach Greg Chappell over several misunderstandings. Ganguly was again dropped from the team, however, he was selected to play in the 2007 Cricket World Cup.
Ganguly joined the Kolkata Knight Riders team as captain for the Indian Premier League Twenty20 cricket tournament in 2008. The same year, after a home Test series against Australia, he announced his retirement from international cricket. He continued to play for the Bengal team and was appointed the chairman of the Cricket Association of Bengal’s Cricket Development Committee. The left-handed Ganguly was a prolific One-Day International (ODI) batsman, with over 11,000 ODI runs to his credit. He is one of the most successful Indian Test captains to date, winning 21 out of 49 test matches. Sourav Gangly is the most successful Indian test captain overseas with 11 wins.
Ganguly has scored 11,363 runs in 311 ODI matches with 22 tonnes & 72 half-tonnes and 7,212 runs in 213 Test Matches with 16 tonnes and 35 half tonnes. Dada is very magical with the ball as well as he had taken 100 wickets in ODI’s and 32 wickets in Test Matches through his career.