Sourav Chandidas Ganguly was born on 8^th July 1972 at Kolkata. He studied at St. Xavier’s College at Kolkata. He has played for Bengal in the Ranji Trophy. He has played for Glamorgan County. He was nineteen years old when he was picked up to play for the national test team’s tour to Australia in 1992.

Sourav Ganguly made his test debut against England at Lord’s, London on 20^th June 1996. He played his last test against Australia at Nagpur on 10^th November 2008. He made his one day international debut against West Indies at Brisbane on 11^th January 1992. He played his last one day match against Pakistan at Gwalior on 15^th November 2007.

Sourav Ganguly has played 113 tests, scoring 7,212 runs with 16 centuries and 35 fifties. He has a highest score in tests of 239. He has taken 71 catches and 32 wickets. He has played 311 one day matches, scoring 11,363 runs with 22 centuries and 72 fifties. He has a highest score in one day internationals of 183. He has taken 100 catches and 100 wickets. He has played 679 first class matches, scoring 30,794 runs with 63 centuries and 184 fifties. He has taken 297 catches and 332 wickets.

Sourav Ganguly has remained in controversies since the beginning of his career. He got the chance to play in the one day games against the West Indies in January 1992. Later on, he was dropped from the one day team for the World Cup in 1992. From his very first tour to Australia, Ganguly was criticized for his attitude and ego problems. Sunil Gavaskar had started calling him `Maharaj’ when he refused to carry the drinks and the bats to the players on the field as a twelfth man reserve player.  This reluctance on his part was looked down upon by the team management and he was out in the wilderness for almost four years after that. His differences with Greg Chappell when the latter was coach of the Indian team also did not do much for his career.

 Sourav Ganguly got his chance to play in the tests in 1996 when India was touring England. He let his bat speak in the second match of the series when he made a classy century on debut at Lord’s. He backed that up with a successive century in the next test. This indicated his determination to settle down in the team. He has never looked back after 1996.

Sourav Ganguly is a left hand batsman and a right arm medium pace bowler. He was quite a handy all rounder in conditions that helped his swing bowling. He was declared as `Sportstar’ cricketer of the year in 1998. He was honoured with the Arjuna Award also the same year. In February 2000, he was made the captain of the Indian team. His aggressive leadership and excellent captaincy gave a new motivation to the team and made them hungry for victory. He finished his career as the most successful captain in Indian cricket with 21 test victories, overtaking the record set by Mohammad Azharuddin. He has been given the title in the cricketing fraternity as the `Prince of Kolkata’.

By defeating Australia in the home series in India in 2001, he caused a major tremor and halted the ascendancy of the Australian team who were unbeaten for a good number of years. He is also the fifth cricketer in cricket history to surpass ten thousand runs in one day internationals. He was also awarded the Padma Shri in 2004. He was a classy left handed bat with elegant cover drives and square cuts as his specialty.

Article Posted By : tahnak  On July 18, 2011lView All Articles

Juror Tahseen Nakavi

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Sourav Ganguly , Cricket