Biography Of Sourav Ganguly- The Warrior Captain

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 galvanize 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.

Sourav Chandidas Ganguly affectionately known as Dada had the distinctive ability to hit powerful shots to the off-side on front and back foot with equal ease. However, early in his career he was not comfortable with the hook and pull, often giving his wicket away with mistiming such shots.

Sourav Ganguly was born on 8th 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'. Since the favourite sport for the people of Calcutta was the game of football, Ganguly was initially attracted to the game. However, academics came in-between his love for sports and his mother was not very supportive of Ganguly taking up cricket or any other sport as a career. By then, his elder brother Snehasish was already an established cricketer for the Bengal cricket team. He supported Ganguly's dream to be a cricketer and asked their father to get Ganguly enrolled in a cricket coaching camp during his summer holidays.

Despite being right-handed, Ganguly learnt to bat left-handed so he could use his brother's sporting equipment. After he scored a century against the Orissa Under–15 side, he was made captain of St Xavier's School's cricket team and subsequently made his first-class cricket debut for Bengal in 1989, the same year that his brother was dropped from the team.

Following a prolific Ranji season in 1990–91, Ganguly scored three runs in his One Day International (ODI) debut for India against the West Indies in 1992.He was dropped immediately since he was perceived to be "arrogant" and his attitude towards the game was openly questioned. He toiled away in domestic cricket, scoring heavily in the 1993–94 and 1994–95 Ranji seasons. Following an innings of 171 in the 1995–96 Duleep Trophy, he was recalled to the National team for a tour of England in 1996, in the middle of intense media scrutiny. He played in a single ODI, but was omitted from the team for the first Test. However, after teammate Navjot Singh Sidhu left the tour, citing ill-treatment by then captain Mohammad Azharuddin, Ganguly made his Test debut against England in the second test of a three-match series at Lord's Cricket Ground alongside Rahul Dravid. Ganguly scored a century, becoming only the third cricketer to achieve such a feat on debut at Lord's, after Harry Graham and John Hampshire. Andrew Strauss and Matt Prior have since accomplished this feat, but Ganguly's 131 still remains the highest by any batsman on his debut at the ground.

In the next Test match at Trent Bridge he made 136, thus becoming only the third batsman to make a century in each of his first two innings (after Lawrence Rowe and Alvin Kallicharran). He shared a 255-run stand with Sachin Tendulkar, which became at that time the highest partnership for India against any country for any wicket outside India. The Test again ended in a draw, handing England a 1–0 series victory.

Weeks after his successful tour of England, Ganguly eloped with childhood sweetheart Dona Roy. The bride and groom's family were sworn enemies at that point and this news caused uproar between them. However, both families reconciled and a formal wedding was held in February 1997. Same year, Ganguly scored his maiden ODI century by hitting 113, opposed to Sri Lanka's team total of 238. Later that year, he won four consecutive man of the match awards, in the Sahara Cup with Pakistan; the second of these was won after he took five wickets for 16 runs off 10 overs, his best bowling in an ODI. After a barren run in Test cricket his form returned at the end of the year with three centuries in four Tests all against Sri Lanka.

In March 1998 he was part of the Indian team that defeated Australia. In Kolkata, he took three wickets having opened the bowling with his medium pace. Ganguly was part of the Indian team that competed in the 1999 Cricket World Cup in England. During the match against Sri Lanka at Taunton, India chose to bat. After Sadagoppan Ramesh was bowled, Ganguly scored 183 from 158 balls, hitting 17 fours and seven sixes. It became the second highest score in World Cup history and the highest by an Indian in the tournament. His partnership of 318 with Rahul Dravid is the highest overall score in a World Cup and is the second highest in all ODI cricket. In 1999–00, India lost Test series to both Australia and South Africa that involved a combined total of five Tests. Ganguly struggled scoring 224 runs at 22.40, however his ODI form was impressive, with five centuries over the season taking him to the top of the PwC One Day Ratings for batsmen.

In 2000, after the match-fixing scandal by some of the players of the team, Ganguly was named the Captain of the Indian cricket team. The decision was spurred due to Tendulkar stepping down from the position for his health, and Ganguly being the vice-captain at that time. He began well as a captain, leading India to a series win over South Africa in the five-match one day series and led the Indian team to the finals of the 2000 ICC Knock-Out Trophy.

In Australia's three Test and five match ODI tour of India in early 2001, Ganguly caused controversy by arriving late for the toss on four occasions, something that agitated opposing captain Steve Waugh. In the fourth ODI, he caused further controversy by failing to wear his playing attire to the toss, something considered unusual in cricket circles. However, India won the Test series 2–1, ending Australia's run of 16 consecutive Test match victories in the second Test.

During the final match of the 2002 Nat-West Series held in Lords after a stunning performance by team mates Yuvraj Singh and Mohammad Kaif, Ganguly took off his shirt in public and brandished it in the air to celebrate India's victory in the match. He was later strongly condemned for tarnishing the "gentleman's game" image of cricket and disrespecting Lords protocol. Ganguly said that he was only mimicking an act performed by the British all-rounder Andrew Flintoff during a tour of India. In 2003, India reached the World Cup Final for the first time since 1983, where they lost to the Australians. Ganguly had a successful tournament personally, scoring 465 runs at an average of 58.12, including three centuries.

However, his individual performance deteriorated during his captaincy reign, especially after the World Cup, the tour of Australia in 2003 and the Pakistan series in 2004. Following indifferent form in 2004 and poor form in 2005, he was dropped from the team in October 2005. However, there was much story behind the scenes that led to his ouster.

 In September 2005, Greg Chappell became the coach for the India tour of Zimbabwe. Ganguly's dispute with him resulted in many headlines. Chappell had emailed the Board of Control for Cricket in India, stating that Ganguly was "physically and mentally" unfit to lead India and that his "divide and rule" behaviour was damaging the team. The captaincy was passed to Dravid, his former deputy. Ganguly decided against retiring and attempted to make a comeback to the team. Ganguly was awarded the Padma Shri in 2004, India's fourth highest civilian award, in recognition of his distinguished contribution in the field of sports.

Ten months later, during India's tour to South Africa, Ganguly was recalled after his middle order replacements Suresh Raina and Mohammad Kaif suffered poor form. During his first Test innings since his comeback, against South Africa in Johannesburg his score of 51 helped India to victory, marking the first Test match win for the team in South Africa. Though India lost the series, Ganguly accumulated the most runs on the scoring chart. After his successful Test comeback he was recalled for the ODI team, as India played host to West Indies and Sri Lanka in back to back ODI tournaments. In his first ODI innings in almost two years, he scored a match winning 98. He performed well in both series, averaging almost 70 and won the Man of the Series Award against Sri Lanka.

On 12 December 2007, Ganguly scored his maiden double century of his career while playing against Pakistan. He scored 239 runs in the first innings of the third and final Test match of the series. Ganguly remained prolific in both Test and ODI cricket in the year 2007. He scored 1106 Test runs at an average of 61.44 (with three centuries and four fifties) in 2007 to become the second highest run-scorer in Test matches of that year after Jacques Kallis. He was also the fifth highest run-scorer in 2007 in ODIs, where he scored 1240 runs at an average of 44.28.

In February 2008, Ganguly joined as the captain of Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) team, owned by Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan, as part of the Indian Premier League (IPL). The same year in October, Ganguly announced that the Test series against Australia starting in October 2008 would be his last. Ganguly played in every game of the four-Test series and amassed 324 runs at an average of 54.00. While playing the second Test match of the series in Mohali, Ganguly scored his final test century. In the final test match he played at Nagpur against Australia he scored 85 and 0 in his first and second innings respectively. India regained the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, winning the series 2–0.

In the fourth season of the IPL he was signed by the Pune Warriors and announced his retirement from all forms of the game.

Sourav Ganguly Achievement

• The Prince of Calcutta- Two of his special qualities are his intelligence and articulation, both of which have helped him immensely in the world of contemporary cricket. -Geoffrey Boycott
• Sourav is a great captain and we should be proud of such a leader.-Kapil Dev
• Sourav’s greatest strength is his mind. He is hard working - not only in the nets but also mentally. He bounces back. -Sachin Tendulkar
• On the onside, first there is God, then Sourav Ganguly.- Rahul Dravid
• We have a young talented side. They have found a good captain in Sourav Ganguly.-Mustaq Ali
• He is a wonderful batsman and definitely the best captain that India can have. So far he has surpassed my expectations and continues to do so. You rarely come across people like Sourav, he is different, he is special, there can be just one Sourav Ganguly. -Indian cricketer Arun Lal
• Sourav’s greatest asset is his ability to communicate. He is a naturally very confident person. He encourages his team, is a great motivator and a born captain. He is not the media’s blue eyed boy because he is a very straightforward person, who never minces his words, instead he talks in a no nonsense manner to the press. He shares an extremely healthy rapport with his teammates. His leadership skills are also vouched for by the youngsters in the team. He has phenomenal brand value. He's the new-age Indian, an aggressive go-getter, full of self-belief, determination. -Ravi Shastri
• Ever since Sourav became the captain, I do not feel like a youngster in the team any more. Everybody is treated equally and Sourav himself is extremely approachable and a pillar of strength. Sourav stood by me when I was struggling. I owe a great deal to him for standing by me at the most important time. I can't express my gratitude to him in words.-Harbhajan Singh
• Sourav is really the best captain India has ever had. -Sunil Gavaskar
• A great captain who is hungry for success and is also an extremely competitive world class performer.- Carl Hooper
• His offside has become so strong that unless he commits a mistake on his own, it is absolutely impossible to get him out in that region. A world class batsman, indeed. -Heath Streak
• His biggest asset is his freakish sense of timing. When playing his big shots, he could be very dangerous. -Shaun Pollock
• The best thing about him is his ambition and eagerness to learn. He will be remembered in history as one of the all time best left handed batsmen. He is a player right on the lines of Ian Chappell. He is a dare devil, and doesn't care too much about what the world thinks of him. -Coach of Bengal, Sambaran Banerjee
• He is a brilliant player and definitely a force to reckon with! -Wasim Akram
• He’s very competitive and knows what he wants. He has developed toughness in character and that is what is needed for Indian cricket. Ganguly has proved to be one of the best captains. He has now acquired great leadership qualities.- Steve Waugh
• A quality batsman. There are a couple of things I like about his batting. He is right up there on my list, as far as offside play goes. The other thing he excels at is his use of feet to spinners. He keeps his head down, has nice footwork and a lovely long follow-through. I really enjoy it when he comes down the track to spinners. In fact, you can safely bet that it would go for a six.- Ian Chappell
• Sourav has done an excellent job of balancing his captaincy with his personal game. He looks like he is enjoying being captain. And effectively, he has lightened the burden on Sachin Tendulkar- Dave Whatmore
• Besides football, the only other game I ever took interests in was basketball, but never cricket. Sourav is the sole reason why I am a cricket lover today. He has worked very hard to reach the position he is in today and that makes him really admirable. Best-known footballer and captain of Indian Football team, Baichung Bhutia