Sourav Ganguly, also known as 'Dada', is a former Indian cricketer and captain of the Indian national team.
On Thursday, it was confirmed that former Indian cricket team captain Sourav Ganguly would succeed the late Jagmohan Dalmiya as the President of the Cricket Association of Bengal. 'Dada', as he is popularly known is one of the most successful test captains for India, the team to victory on 21 occasions - seven more that his predecessor captain Mohammad Azharuddin. Ganguly is only the eight player to cross the 11,000 ODI runs mark. In 2004, Ganguly was awarded the 'Padma Shree', India's fourth highest civilian award.
We look back on his stellar career:
Introduction to Cricket:
Sourav Ganguly was introduced to cricket by his elder brother Snehasish in the mid 80s. Dada was in studying in the tenth grade, when he first enrolled himself in a cricket-coaching camp. Interestingly, Ganguly was a right-handed player, but learnt to to bat using his left had in order to use his elder brother's cricket equipment.
Sourav Ganguly in ODI:
On January 11, 1992, Sourav Ganguly made his debut for the Indian national team against West Indies, scoring only 3 runs. His poor performance and perceived 'arrogant' attitude resulted in him losing his place in the national team. From 1993 to 1996, Ganguly found himself playing domestic cricket. Having performed well in the Ranji Trophy and Duleep Trophy, Ganguly was recalled to the national side for India's tour of England in 1996. Ganguly found himself playing only one ODI, and ended up being omitted from the Test Squad.
However, things improved in 1997, when Ganguly scored his maiden century against Sri Lanka on 20th August scoring 113 runs. Ganguly went on to score 22 centuries in his career, with his highest score coming against Sri Lanka in the 99 World Cup, scoring a staggering 183.
ODI Captaincy:
In 2000, amid the match-fixing scandal, Sourav Ganguly was named the captain for the ODI team. The decision was a result of Sachin Tendulkar's decision to step down as the captain due to health reasons, with Ganguly being the vice-captain at that time. In 2004, Ganguly was awarded the 'Padma Shree', India's fourth highest civilian award. Perhaps his most iconic moment, came in 2002, when after India's victory over England in the NatWest Series, Ganguly took off his shirt and waved it in the air to celebrate victory at Lord's.
During the initial stages of his captaincy, Ganguly led India to a win over South Africa in the five-match ODI series. Dada also captained India to the finals of 2000 ICC Knock-Out Trophy, but lost to New Zealand in the finals by four wickets. However, Ganguly managed to score a century in the finals.
Under Ganguly's captaincy, India went on to finals of 2003 ICC World Cup, only to lose the finals to Ricky Ponting's Australia by 125 runs. Under his captaincy, India played 147 matches, won 77 and lost 66. Five matches ended with 'no result'. Dada's win percentage was 51.7%.
Sourav Ganguly in Tests:
Dada made his test debut for India against England in 1996. It was a dream debut for Ganguly as he scored 131 at the Lord's Cricket Ground. This made Ganguly only the third cricketer to score a century on his debut, after Harry Graham and John Hampshire.
Under his captaincy, India played 49 test matches, winning 21 and losing 13, along with 15 draws. His win percentage in Test was 42.8%
Controversy with Greg Chappell:
The controversy between Ganguly and Chappell resulted due to a series of events in late 2005 and early 2006. That particular period was the darkest phase in Ganguly's career as he lost his captaincy to erstwhile vice-captain Rahul Dravid in November 2005, followed by Ganguly's exclusion from the ODI team. By the start on 2006, Ganguly was also dropped from the Test team.
All this led to protests in Ganguly's hometown, Kolkata. Eventually Dada was recalled to the national side in late 2006.
Retirement:
Ganguly retired from ODI cricket in 2007, playing his last match against Pakistan. He announced his retirement from test cricket a year later, playing his last test against Australia.
IPL:
After retirement from international cricket, Ganguly joined Kolkata Knight Riders as their captain for the inaugural season of the Indian Premier League.
In 2009, he lost his KKR captaincy to Brendon McCullum.
In 2011, Sourav Ganguly signed for Pune Warriors. On 29 October 2012, Ganguly announced his retirement from the IPL.
Stats: Dada's career in numbers
ODI-
*Matches - 311
*Runs- 11363
*Centuries- 22
*Highest- 183(vs Sri Lanka)
*Wickets- 100
Test:
*Matches- 113
*Runs- 7212
*Centuries- 16
*Highest- 239(vs Sri Lanka)
*Wickets- 32
IPL:
*Matches- 59
*Runs- 1349
*Centuries- 0
*Highest- 91
*Wickets- 10
ICC Batting Rankings:
ODI- 2(Career Best)
Test- 8(Career Best)
ICC ODI World Cup:
*Matches- 11 (W-11/L-2)
Lost the finals against Australia in 2003.
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