Former Indian captain Sourav Ganguly has turned 51 on Saturday i.e. July 8. He is one of the most successful captains of Team India. It is said about him that he gave a chance to the youth and formed a new Team India. The debutants under his captaincy played a key role in the 2007 T20 World Cup and 2011 ODI World Cup victories.
Ganguly was called by his parents as ‘Maharaj’. At the same time, former England veteran Geoffrey Boycott called him the ‘Prince of Kolkata’. Both these names of his became very famous. After Ganguly’s tenure as the BCCI President ended, the Delhi Capitals team made him the Director of Operations last season. Under Ganguly’s captaincy, Team India became joint winners of the Champions Trophy in 2002.
‘Dada’ made India the champion in the Natwest Trophy in England. Along with this, he led the team to the final of the 2003 World Cup. However, the dream of winning the title was not fulfilled then. In 2004, under his captaincy, the team went to Pakistan and won the ODI-Test series. During his captaincy, Ganguly groomed many young talents and gave them opportunities. The Indian team included players like Virender Sehwag, Harbhajan Singh, Yuvraj Singh, Zaheer Khan and Mahendra Singh Dhoni who went on to become outstanding cricketers.
Let us know about some special records of Sourav Ganguly:
- Sourav Ganguly is among the five players to have completed 10,000 runs, 100 wickets and 100 catches in ODIs.
- Ganguly was the first player to score three centuries in the ICC Champions Trophy.
- Sourav Ganguly holds the record for the highest score (117 runs) in the Champions Trophy final. He scored 117 against New Zealand in the year 2000.
- Sourav Ganguly is the only player to win four consecutive Man of the Match awards in ODIs.
- Sourav Ganguly is considered the best Test captain. Under his leadership, India has won 11 out of 28 Tests abroad. This record of his was broken by Kohli.
- Ganguly is at the ninth place in terms of making the most runs (11363) in ODIs. He is third among Indians after Sachin Tendulkar and Virat Kohli.
- Sourav Ganguly holds the record for scoring the most runs for India in ODI World Cup. Ganguly scored 183 against Sri Lanka at Taunton in 1999.
