Sourav Ganguly was born on the 8th of July 1972 in Calcutta. His father, Chandidas Ganguly, ran a very large and profitable print business and was one of the wealthiest men in the city. Ganguly was initially attracted to football rather than cricket as it was the predominant sport in the state. But his mother, Nirupa Ganguly, wasn’t too supportive of Ganguly taking up any sport as a career and academics came in the way as well.
His brother Snehasish Ganguly, who was already playing for the Bengal Ranji team, enrolled him in a cricket camp during his 10th-class summer vacation. He showed promise as a batsman and soon captained the St. Xavier’s School team. He rose through the ranks in Bengal and made it to their Ranji team in 1989, which coincidentally was the same year his brother was dropped from the side. Sourav had a prolific domestic season in 1990-91 and was fast-traced into the national side.
He made his debut against the West Indies and scored just 3 runs before being dropped from the side. Ganguly later mentioned that his game wasn’t ready for international cricket yet and he made his debut too early. He continued his prolific form in domestic cricket, scoring heavily in the 1993-94 and 1994-95 seasons. After his 171 in the 1995-96 Duleep Trophy, he was recalled to the national side for the tour of England.
International career
Ganguly made his Test debut in the 2nd test and scored 131, becoming just the 3rd batsman to score a hundred on debut at Lord’s. He followed it up by scoring another century – 136 in the next test at Trent Bridge, announcing his arrival. His ODI career took off as well in 1997 as he scored his maiden ODI century against Sri Lanka.
He won four consecutive man-of-the-match awards against Pakistan in the Sahara Cup, which included his career-best bowling performance of 5/16. Later that year, he scored three centuries in four tests against Sri Lanka. During the 1999 World Cup, he produced an incredible innings of 183 against Sri Lanka, the highest score by an Indian in a World Cup.
In 2000, after the match-fixing scandal rocked Indian cricket, Ganguly was given the reins, with Sachin refusing to take the job. He started well, leading India to an ODI series win against South Africa. But his biggest contribution was leading India to a 2-1 series win against Steve Waugh’s all-conquering Australian side. After losing the 1st test convincingly and following-on in the second, VVS Laxman and Rahul Dravid’s partnership won India the second test.
India went on to win the series, which ushered in an era of unprecedented success in Indian cricket. In 2002, Ganguly led the team to the Natwest trophy, with Yuvraj Singh and Mohammad Kaif’s partnership winning India the final. Ganguly took off his shirt in public and brandished it in the air on the Lord’s balcony, showcasing the change in the Indian team’s mindset. India also managed to draw the test series 1-1 in England after several years.
He took India to the World Cup final in 2003 where Australia proved to be the better team on the day. He personally had a good tournament, scoring 465 runs at 58.12. Under his captaincy, India also drew a test series against Australia in the summer of 2003-04. But it all went downhill from there for the Indian captain as suffered with a loss in form in 2004 and 2005, coupled with disagreements with coach Greg Chappell.
Ganguly lost his place in the side in October 2005 before being recalled 10 months later. He made a roaring comeback to international cricket in 2007, scoring 1106 test runs and 1240 ODI runs, which included his only double-century – 239 against Pakistan. He announced that the home series against Australia in 2008 will be his last and he scored 324 runs at 54.
Rewards and Acheivements
The only cricketer to win four consecutive man-of-the-match awards in ODI’s
The ninth highest run-scorer in ODI history and third among the Indians with 11,363 runs.
He holds the record for registering the highest individual score by any batsman in an ICC Champions Trophy final (117)
He was also the first player to score 3 centuries in the history of the ICC Champions Trophy
The second fastest batsman to reach 9,000 ODI runs after AB De Villiers of South Africa, who broke Ganguly’s record in 2017
One of the only six cricketers to have achieved a unique treble of 10,000 runs, 100 wickets & 100 catches in ODI cricket.
One of the 14 cricketers in the world to have played 100 or more Tests and 300 or more ODIs.
