Sourav Ganguly’s name is recorded in the history books of Indian cricket as a fighter who leads India to glory in international cricket. In the late 1990s, when Ganguly was entrusted with the job of captaining the Indian team, Indian cricket was in deep trouble. Several cricketers were suspended or banned following allegations of match-fixing and a severe lack of trust between fans and teams.
However, Ganguly was determined to turn things around and pulled the team out of that dark phase. The face of Indian cricket changed under his leadership and a team that was considered only the tiger of the home ground learned to win matches on foreign soil. Who can forget the scene of Ganguly waving his jersey from the balcony of Lord’s after beating the England team?
Ganguly laid the foundation for the golden years of Indian cricket and even after retirement, he remained associated with the game as an administrator.
Today (July 8) as we celebrate his 49th birthday, we take a look at his life journey and list down some interesting facts about the prince of Kolkata:
Considered one of India’s greatest left-handed batsmen, Ganguly is affectionately called the God of the off-side. Although initially he was not a left-handed batsman. Ganguly’s elder brother Snehasish who was also a Ranji cricketer for Bengal used to be a lefty batsman and Ganguly adopted his batting style so that he could use his brother’s cricket kit.
Interestingly, Ganguly made his Ranji debut in the final of the tournament in 1990 and he included his own elder brother in the team.
Ganguly was selected in the Indian team for the 1992 tour of Australia, but did not get a chance to represent India. After the tour, he was kicked off the field and had to wait over 4 years before he got a chance to don the Indian jersey on the field.
In his debut Test against England in 1996, Ganguly scored a century and found himself in the club of debutants who scored a ton in their debut match.
India has never lost a Test match in which Ganguly scored a century. Out of his 16 Test centuries, India have won 4 matches and drawn 12 matches.
Ganguly faced the first ball to be bowled in the IPL. In the opening match of the IPL in 2008, he made his batting debut for Kolkata Knight Riders along with Brendon McCullum.
Such is the craze of Ganguly that there is a road named after him named Rajarhat, West Bengal. The road named “Sourav Ganguly Avenue” was inaugurated by Ganguly himself.
get all IPL news and cricket score Here
.