Sourav Ganguly: To the one who shaped a young Indian cricket team, as Dada turns 51

Having represented India in as many as 424 matches with a total of 18,575 runs, Sourav Ganguly is easily one of the greats of Indian cricket.

The Prince of Kolkata turned 51 today, and the country cannot stop reminiscing the highlights of his career.

Ganguly is regarded with shaping and leading a young team when Indian cricket was marred with allegations of match-fixing. With young players like Yuvraj Singh, Harbhajan Singh, and MS Dhoni, Dada ushered in a new era in cricket in the country.

There has hardly been a batsmen who has matched clean off-side shots like Dada used to hit. The God of Offside, as regarded by contemporary Rahul Dravid and picked up by the fraternity, has left fans spellbound with his batting style.

In his two-decade long career, Sourav Ganguly served as batsman, captain, President of the Board of Control for Cricket in India – and his contributions have not ceased. The former skipper continues to be associated with the IPL as Delhi Capital’s Director of Cricket.A left-handed batter, Ganguly made his Test debut in 1996 against England where he went on to score a century at Lord’s.Dada continued to make headlines and soon became only the third batsman in history to score centuries in both innings of the first test match. He went on to play 113 Tests scoring 7,212 runs with 16 centuries, 35 half centuries at an average of 42.17.

Subsequently, Ganguly made his debut in 50-overs cricket in 1997 and booked his place with the Indian side as he won player of the match for four consecutive matches against Pakistan. In this format, the Kolkata Prince scored as many as 22 centuries and 72 half-centuries.

While he wore the Indian jersey for 311 ODIs, his T20 contributions were curtailed to IPL as he debuted and led Kolkata Knight Riders in 2008.

Having captained the Indian test side for 49 matches as well as leading the team in 147 ODIs, Dada became one of the most successful captains with a win percentage of 42.85 and 51.70 in both formats respectively.

When Dada took his shirt off in Lord’s Balcony

The historic moment from Natwest Series Final in 2003, when Dada took his jersey off at the Lord’s Balcony.

Ganguly has given fans several memories. One of these is when he took off his shirt in Lord’s balcony in 2003 when India beat England in the Natwest Series final.

This thrilling celebration happened almost 20 years ago, but ask a Dada fan, and will remember it.

Dada, ICC and World Cup knocks

The former captain may have won only one ICC title, unlike his successor MS Dhoni, but he is responsible for instilling the young men in blue with passion to win it.

ICC tournaments were indeed at Dada’s clutch. He has played 34 ICC tournament matches for India including 21 Cricket world cup matches and 13 matches in Champions Trophy. With a best score of 183 runs in ICC tournaments, the veteran batsman has scored more than 1,600 runs in total.

Sourav Ganguly’s love affair with ICC knock-out games or world cup games was not limited to one or two of these.

In 1998, when India managed to reach the semi-finals of the ICC knockout, Ganguly scored a good 84 runs in two innings at an average of 47.00.

Later in the 1999 World Cup, the former skipper emerged as the third highest run scorer for India with 379 runs in just seven innings.

With two centuries and a fifty, Dada was crowned the top-run scorer in the ICC knockout in 2000.

When the ICC Knockout was renamed as ICC Champions Trophy in 2002, Ganguly managed to score 143 runs in three innings and India reached the finals. However, as rain played spoilsport, it shared the trophy with Sri Lanka.

The 2003 World Cup when India reached the finals but lost to the Aussies, Ganguly was at his peak as a batsman and scored a good 465 runs in 11 matches.

However, in 2004 and 2007 tournaments, that is the Champions trophy and the World Cup respectively, India did not yield results as it would have hoped for. Nonetheless, Ganguly scored 90 runs and 162 in the two tournaments.

In all, at knock-out stage matches the left-handed batter has an average of 82.85, which is way higher than any batting greats of the nation including Dravid, Tendulkar, Kohli among others.

Dada has served the Indian audience with several knocks which till date the fans reminisce. His heroics cannot simply be accounted for in one go. But here’s wishing the legendary Sourav Ganguly a happy birthday.