Sourav Ganguly — the Prophet of Cricket who resisted Chapel 😉
Known as ,“Dada”, “ Prince of Calcutta”, “ Bengal Tiger”, “God of the Off side”.
Date of Birth : July 8, 1972
If India lifted World Cup in the year 2011, a share of contribution goes to this man too, even though he did not play the 2011 World Cup. It was the fire set by him, leading by example and having faith in the young players that reshaped the fate of the Indian Cricket Team into an aggressive fighting team.
Ganguly’s international debut was against West Indies in the year 1992 but failed to impress and was dropped. But he returned after four years by impressing with his performance in domestic cricket. From there on, the graph scaled high.
131 runs for his Test debut at Lord’s against England and then a 136 in the following test match contributing to a 255 run opening partnership with Sachin Tendulkar. Scored his first ODI century in the year 1997 and needless to say, that triggered a career with many records of an extraordinary talent. Sourav Ganguly proved himself as an All rounder and not just as an outstanding batsman.
Who will forget the 183 off just 158 in the 1999 World Cup, the highest score by an Indian in a World Cup with a partnership of 318 with Rahul Dravid, the highest ever in a World Cup.
In the year 2000, Dada was nominated as the Captain and marched on as one of the most successful captains ever with no compromise on his individual performance and of course the series win against Australia in the year 2001, Border-Gavaskar Trophy.
It was in Dada’s supervision, a bunch of young talent became a part of the national squad. Who will forget Dada for taking off his shirt for the win in the final of the 2002 Natwest Trophy. The Captain who led India to the World Cup final 2003 and he led from front to score 3 centuries.
Dada’s maiden test hundred was in his home ground and so was his solo double century.
Credibility at its peak!
BCCI President
Former President of CAB
Cricket commentator
President of the Editorial Board with Wisden India.
One of the four members of the IPL’s Governing Council, appointed by the Supreme Court in January 2016.
He is also a member of Technical Committee, IPL.
He is regarded as one of India’s most successful captains in modern times.
One of the greatest ODI batsmen of all time to cross 10000 ODI runs along with other legends.
In 2002, the Wisden Cricketer’s Almanack ranked him the sixth greatest ODI batsman of all time, next to Viv Richards, Dean Jones,Brian Lara, Sachin Tendulkar and Michael Bevan.
22 ODI centuries
20 century opening-partnerships with Sachin Tendulkar.
Dada was awarded with Padma Shri in 2004 for his contribution to the cricket world.
He was the fastest to achieve the milestone of 6000 to 9000 runs during his time.
He holds a unique trio of 10000 Runs, 100 Wickets & 100 Catches in ODI.
Sourav is among those 12 cricketers of the world who scored a half century and took 5 wickets in the same match.
His Average in Test never went below 40 per innings.
Sourav is among those 9 cricketers of the world who scored a century and took 4 wickets in the same match.
In the Sahara Cup, 1997 Sourav Ganguly set a World Record for 4 consecutive Man of the Match Awards and later he was declared as the Man of The series also.
Currently, 8th highest run scorer in One Day Internationals (ODIs)
Climbed to number 3 spot in the list of most sixes hit by a batsman in ODI with 168 sixes in 247 matches.
Was the 3rd batsman in history to cross the 10,000 run landmark, after Sachin Tendulkar and Inzamam Ul Haq. Second fastest player to reach 10,000 ODI runs
One of the 14 cricketers in the world to have played 100 or more Tests and 300 or more ODIs.
He holds the record for registering the highest individual score by any batsman in an ICC Champions Trophy final(117)
Sourav is on 5th spot in the list of most runs in a series by a captain.
Currently Sourav Ganguly is 2nd Highest run scorer for India in ODIs only behind Sachin Tendulkar.
Ganguly was awarded with the Banga Bibhushan Award from the Government of West Bengal on 20 May 2013.
Sport Star Person of the Year 1997
Arjuna Award 1997
Rammohan Roy Award.
His retirement from international cricket did not stop his love for the game as he was associated in IPL with Kolkata Knight Riders and soon with Pune warriors.
