Sourav Ganguly Birthday: Sourav Ganguly started his One-Day International career in 1992 against the West Indies. However, after this, Ganguly did not get a chance again soon. In 1996, when Ganguly got a chance to debut in Test cricket on a tour of England, Sourav Ganguly scored a century in the very first Test match. With this century, he gave the message of his own arrival in world cricket. Everyone was amazed when Ganguly scored 131 runs in 301 balls at Lord’s. In its next match too, Ganguly scored a century against England in which he scored 136 runs.
Ganguly became the captain at a time when the Indian team was hanging in the trap of fixing in the year 2000. The onus was on Ganguly to pull his Indian team out of this darkness and get the game moving again. It was under Ganguly’s captaincy that apart from defeating England at their home, Team India also started defeating Australia at their home.
Ganguly played a record inning of 183 runs in the 1999 ODI Cricket World Cup
Sourav Ganguly scored an inning of 183 runs in 158 balls against Sri Lanka in the 1999 World Cup. The innings of 183 runs at that time was the second-highest innings in the history of the World Cup.
Indian team learned Dadagiri
When Sourav Ganguly was appointed captain in the year 2000, the Indian team was going through a transition phase. Many young players were included in it, including Zaheer Khan, Yuvraj Singh, Virender Sehwag and Mohammad Kaif. These players not only played under the captaincy of Sourav Ganguly but also went on to become big stars. In today’s time, there are many fans of Yuvraj Singh, Virender Sehwag, Mohammad Kaif and Zaheer Khan. People know them for their best games and contributions but Ganguly is the one who made them better.
In the year 2002, under the captaincy of Sourav Ganguly, India won the first ICC Champions Trophy title. In the year 2002 itself, people in the cricket world saw the bravery of Sourav Ganguly. When India defeated England in a thrilling manner at their own historic ground Lord’s in the final of the Natwest Trophy. After winning the same match, Ganguly celebrated by taking off his T-shirt from the corridor of Lord’s ground. From here, people started seeing the fearless style of the Indian team on the ground.
Ganguly’s captaincy stopped Australia’s victory chariot and broke their pride
It was not an easy task for any team to face and beat the Australian team in the 90s. This was the period when Australia had unilateral dominance in world cricket. But the Indian team under the captaincy of Sourav Ganguly did this too. Under the leadership of Sourav Ganguly, when the team went to Australia to play a series of 4 Tests, India won a match of the series. Considering the condition of the Indian team abroad at that time, this victory was considered a huge victory for Team India at that time. Apart from this, under the leadership of Ganguly at home, Team India also worked to stop the victorious chariot from winning 16 consecutive matches of the Australian team against India.
Ganguly played the last Test match for India in November 2008 against Australia. He scored 85 runs in the first innings of this match. While he was dismissed for zero in the second innings. Ganguly is included in the list of players who have scored a century on Test debut. If we look at Ganguly’s overall career, it has been effective. In 113 Test matches, he has scored 7212 runs. He scored 16 centuries and 35 half-centuries throughout this time. He has also scored a double-century. Ganguly has played for India in 311 One-Day Internationals matches, in which he has scored a total of 11363 runs. During this time, he has 22 centuries and 72 half-centuries to his credit.
Ganguly has played in Indian Premier League as well. He was part of the Kolkata Knight Riders and Pune Warriors. Apart from this, he has played for other domestic teams as well. He has played for the East Zone and Bengal.
After retirement, he played important responsibility as BCCI President
After retiring from international cricket, Sourav Ganguly carried out his responsibility as a cricket administrator. In this, he has also performed his responsibility as the President of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). At present, he is serving as the director for the IPL franchise Delhi Capitals.