Sourav Ganguly is perhaps the greatest cricketer from Kolkata. This left handed batsman and right-arm medium pace bowler has played 99 tests and 311 one day international matches for India. Cricketer Sourav Ganguly is also the most successful Indian captain in Test cricket.
Sourav Ganguly Early Life
Sourav Ganguly was born on 8th July, 1973 in Kolkata to Chandidas Ganguly and Nirupa Ganguly. Snehasish Ganguly is his elder brother. Sourav Ganguly completed his formal schooling from St. Xavier's School of Calcutta. He did his graduation in Arts from St. Xavier's College.
As a player he excelled more in football rather than in cricket. His elder brother Snehasish Ganguly motivated his younger brother in taking up cricket seriously. Though Sourav Ganguly is a right hander, he took up left handed batting more as a matter of convenience rather than choice.
Cricketer Sourav Ganguly
Sourav Ganguly began his cricketing career in 1989 at the age of sixteen. He made his debut in international cricket in the one day international match against West Indies in Brisbane in January 1992. His test debut was against England at Lord's in June 1996. In his debut test Sourav Ganguly scored 131 in Lords. In the following test in Trent Bridge, Nottingham, Ganguly scored 136 runs. In the 1996 India-England test series Sourav Ganguly shared the Man of the Series with Nasir Hussain of England.
As a cricketer Sourav Ganguly has impressive statistics against his name.
Sourav Ganguly in Test Cricket
Sourav Ganguly in ODI Cricket
Tests - 99
Matches - 311
Runs - 6255
Runs - 11363
Centuries - 15
Centuries- 22
50's - 29
50's - 72
Highest - 239
Highest - 183
Average - 42.84
Average - 41.02
Wickets - 31
Wickets - 100
Best - 3 for 28
Best - 5 for 16
Average - 50.41
Average - 38.49
Catches - 64
Catches - 100
Sourav Ganguly in 18 cricket matches of Twenty20 has scored 377 runs at an average of 23.56, with the highest being 73. He has taken 19 wickets at an average of 20.68 with the best figures of 3 for 27. He is credited with 6 catches in the recently played Twenty20 cricket matches.
Captain Sourav Ganguly
Sourav Ganguly became the captain of the India Cricket Team in 2000. His first tour as Indian captain in a Test match was against Bangladesh in November 2000. Since then Ganguly has played 49 Tests as captain, winning 21, drawing 15 and losing in 13 tests. His success rate is 42.8% the highest achieved by any Indian captain. Under the leadership of Sourav Ganguly, India was transformed from a bunch of talented cricketers to a unified and committed team eager to perform and win. Team India under Sourav Ganguly emerged runners up in the 2003 ICC World Cup in South Africa.
Sourav Ganguly won the Padma Shri Award for his contribution to Indian cricket in 2004 and the Arjuna Award for outstanding performance in the game of cricket in 1998. He has been rewarded with 31 Man of the Match (MoM) awards in ODIs, 7 Man of the Series (MoS) awards in ODIs, 4 MoM awards in Tests, 2 MoS awards in Tests. He was further awarded the CEAT 'Cricketer of the Year' for 1999-2000, and the CEAT 'Indian Captain of the Year' for 2001-02.
