Player Profile

Sourav Ganguly

India

Player profile

Full name Sourav Chandidas Ganguly
Born July 8, 1972, Calcutta (now Kolkata), Bengal
Current age 35 years 143 days
Major teams India, ACC Asian XI, Asia XI, Bengal, Glamorgan, Lancashire
Batting style Left-hand bat
Bowling style Right-arm medium
Height 5 ft 11 in
Education St Xavier's College
Relations Brother - Snehasish C Ganguly

Batting and fielding averages

	Mat	Inns	NO	Runs	HS	Ave	BF	SR	100	50	4s	6s	Ct	St
Tests	97	157	14	5868	173	41.03	11775	49.83	13	29	753	47	64	0
ODIs	311	300	23	11363	183	41.02	15416	73.70	22	72	1122	190	100	0
First-class	223	348	40	13441	200*	43.63			28	77			158	0
List A	420	404	42	15125	183	41.78			31	93			128	0
Twenty20	18	17	1	377	73	23.56	350	107.71	0	1	47	9	6	0

Bowling averages

	Mat	Inns	Balls	Runs	Wkts	BBI	BBM	Ave	Econ	SR	4w	5w	10
Tests	97	88	2846	1554	31	3/28	3/37	50.12	3.27	91.8	0	0	0
ODIs	311	171	4561	3849	100	5/16	5/16	38.49	5.06	45.6	1	2	0
First-class	223		10637	5877	163	6/46		36.05	3.31	65.2		4	0
List A	420		7841	6373	167	5/16	5/16	38.16	4.87	46.9	4	2	0
Twenty20	18	17	297	393	19	3/27	3/27	20.68	7.93	15.6	0	0	0

Career statistics

Statistics	Statsguru Tests | Statsguru ODIs
Test debut	England v India at Lord's, Jun 20-24, 1996 scorecard
Last Test	India v Pakistan at Delhi, Nov 22-26, 2007 scorecard
ODI debut	India v West Indies at Brisbane, Jan 11, 1992 scorecard
Last ODI	India v Pakistan at Gwalior, Nov 15, 2007 scorecard
First-class debut	1989/90
Last First-class	India v Pakistan at Delhi, Nov 22-26, 2007 scorecard
List A debut	1989/90
Last List A	India v Pakistan at Gwalior, Nov 15, 2007 scorecard
Twenty20 debut	Glamorgan v Somerset at Cardiff, Jun 22, 2005 scorecard
Last Twenty20	Bengal v Mumbai at Ahmedabad, Apr 19, 2007 scorecard

Profile

Some felt he couldn't play the bouncer, others swore that he was God on the off-side; some laughed at his lack of athleticism, others took immense pride in his ability to galvanise a side. Sourav Ganguly's ability to polarise opinion led to one of the most fascinating dramas in Indian cricket. Yet, nobody can dispute that he was India's most successful Test captain - forging a winning unit from a bunch of talented, but directionless, individuals - and nobody can argue about him being one of the greatest one-day batsmen of all time. Despite being a batsman who combined grace with surgical precision in his strokeplay, his career had spluttered to a standstill before being resurrected by a scintillating hundred on debut at Lord's in 1996. Later that year, he was promoted to the top of the order in ODIs and, along with Sachin Tendulkar, formed one of the most destructive opening pairs in history.

When he took over the captaincy after the match-fixing exposes in 2000, he quickly proved to be a tough, intuitive and uncompromising leader. Under his stewardship India started winning Test matches away, and put together a splendid streak that took them all the way to the World Cup final in 2003. Later that year, in Australia, an unexpected and incandescent hundred at Brisbane set the tone for the series - Steve Waugh's last - where India fought the world's best team to a standstill. Victory in Pakistan turned him into a cult figure but instead of being a springboard for greater things, it was the peak of a slippery slope.

The beginning of the end came in 2004 at Nagpur - when his last-minute withdrawal played a part in Australia clinching the series - and things went pear shaped when his loss of personal form coincided with India's insipid ODI performances. Breaking point was reached when his differences with Greg Chappell leaked into public domain and his career was in jeopardy when India began their remarkable revival under Rahul Dravid. His gritty 30s at Karachi, when India succumbed to a humiliating defeat in early 2006, weren't enough for him to retain his spot and some felt he would never get another chance. Others, as always, thought otherwise and they were proved right when he was included in the Test squad for the away series in South Africa in 2006-2007. He ended as the highest Indian run-scorer in that series and capped his fairytale comeback with four half-centuries on his return to ODIs. He managed two fifties in three World Cup games, in what was a forgettable campaign for India, and was rested for the folowing tour to Bangladesh.

Career Statistics,Awards

Career Statistics

Tests:

• One of 3 batsman who made tons in their 1st two Test innings.
• Ganguly was only the 3rd batsman in the world to score a century on debut at Lord's.
• His 131 still remains the highest by any batsman on his debut at Lord’s.

ODI's

• Second fastest after Viv Richards to reach 6,000 ODI Runs in 147 Innings and Sachin Tendulkar to 10,000 in 263 Innings

Man of the Series awards

2 Awards in Test cricket

#	Series	Season	Series Performance
1	India in England Test Series	1996	315 Runs (2 Matches, 3 Innings, 2x100); 37.5-4-125-6
2	Sri Lanka in India Test Series	1997/98	392 Runs (3 Matches, 4 Innings, 2x100, 1x50); 7-4-19-0

7 Awards in ODI cricket

#	Series (Opponents)	Season	Series Performance
1	Sahara Friendship Series (Pakistan v/s India in Toronto)	1997	222 Runs (5 Matches & 5 Innings, 2x50); 48.5-8-160-15 (1x5 Wicket); 3 Catches
2	Pepsi Cup (Pakistan, Sri Lanka)	1998/99	278 Runs (5 Innings, 1x100, 2x50); 20-0-101-6; 2 Catches
3	DMC Cup (West Indies v/s India in Toronto)	1999	89 Runs (3 Innings, 1x50); 10-1-53-3; 1 Catch
4	New Zealand in India ODI Tour	1999/00	301 Runs (5 Innings, 1x100, 1x50); 18-3-95-2; 1 Catch
5	Zimbabwe in India ODI Tour	2000/01	264 Runs (4 Innings, 1x100, 1x50); 12-1-51-5 (1x5 Wicket)
6	India in West Indies ODI Tour	2002	136 Runs (3 Innings, 1x50); 3-0-20-0; 2 Catches
7	Sri Lanka in India ODI Tour	2006/07	168 Runs (3 Innings, 2x50); 8-0-43-1; 2 Catches

Man of the Match awards

4 Awards in Test cricket

S No	Opponent	Venue	Season	Match Performance
1	England	Trent Bridge, Nottingham	1996	1st Innings: 136 (17x4, 2x6); 19.5-2.71-3 2nd Innings: 48 (8x4)
2	Sri Lanka	Wankhede, Mumbai	1997/98	1st Innings: 173 (25x4, 2x6); 3-0-19-0 2nd Innings: 11 (1x4)
3	Sri Lanka	Asgiriya, Kandy	2001	1st Innings: 18 (2x4); 17-5-69-2 2nd Innings: 98 (15x4); 10-4-21-0
4	Australia	Gabba, Brisbane	2003/04	1st Innings: 144 (18x4); 1-0-8-0

31 Awards in ODI

Records

Records

Test

• Scored a century on Test debut
• Scored a century in each of his first two Tests
• Captained India in a record 49 Test matches
• Led India to a record 21 Test wins

ODIs

• Second fastest player to reach 10,000, 11,000 ODI runs
• Fastest to reach multiples of 7,000, 8,000, 9,000 ODI Runs
• Hold the record of most 200+ ODI partnerships (6 times) along with Sachin Tendulkar and Ricky Ponting.
• Holds the record, shared with Sachin Tendulkar, for most 1st wicket ODI partnerships of 175+ runs (7 times).
• Holds the record, shared with Mahendra Singh Dhoni, for the second highest score by an Indian cricketer in an ODI — 183, against Sri Lanka in 1999.
• Held the record, shared with Sachin Tendulkar, for the highest first wicket partnership for India in a ODI match, 258, against Kenya in 2001. This record was bettered by Sri Lankan opening pair of Jayasuriya and Tharanga in 2006 at Headingley.
• Was involved in the first 300 run ODI partnership with Rahul Dravid.
• Sixth on the all time list with 31 man of the match awards.
• He is also the only player to win 4 consecutive man of the match awards in ODIs.
• India's most successful ODI captain.
• First Indian to score a ODI century against Australia in Australia.
• Highest ODI runs scorer in the world (in a calendar year) in 1997.
• Second highest ODI runs scorer in the world (in a calendar year) in 1998.
• Highest ODI runs scorer in the world (in a calendar year) in 1999.
• Highest ODI runs scorer in the world (in a calendar year) in 2000.
• Second highest ODI runs scorer for India (in a calendar year) in 2001.
• Second highest ODI runs scorer for India (in a calendar year) in 2002.
• Third highest ODI runs scorer for India (in a calendar year) in 2003.
• Third highest ODI runs scorer in the world (in a calendar year) in 2004.
• Third in the list of hitting maximum number of sixes in ODIs.

Career Centuries

Career Centuries

Test Cricket

Runs	Opponent	Venue	Year	Result
131	England	Lord's	1996	Drawn
136	England	Nottingham	1996	Drawn
147	Sri Lanka	Colombo (SSC)	1997/98	Drawn
109	Sri Lanka	Mohali	1997/98	Drawn
173	Sri Lanka	Mumbai	1997/98	Drawn
101*	New Zealand	Hamilton	1998/99	Drawn
101	New Zealand	Ahmedabad	1999/00	Drawn
136	Zimbabwe	Delhi	2001/02	India
128	England	Leeds	2002	India
100*	New Zealand	Ahmedabad	2003/04	Drawn
144	Australia	Brisbane	2003/04	Drawn
101	Zimbabwe	Bulawayo	2005	India
100	Bangladesh	Chittagong	2007	Drawn

One-Day Cricket

Runs	Opponent	Venue	Year	Result
113	Sri Lanka	Colombo (RPS)	1997/98	Sri Lanka
124	Pakistan	Dhaka	1997/98	India
105	New Zealand	Sharjah	1997/98	India
109	Sri Lanka	Colombo (RPS)	1997/98	India
107*	Zimbabwe	Bulawayo	1998/99	India
130*	Sri Lanka	Nagpur	1998/99	India
183	Sri Lanka	Taunton	1999/00	India
139	Zimbabwe	Nairobi	1999/00	India
153*	New Zealand	Gwalior	1999/00	India
100	Australia	Melbourne	1999/00	Australia
141	Pakistan	Adelaide	1999/00	India
105*	South Africa	Jamshedpur	1999/00	India
135*	Bangladesh	Dhaka	1999/00	India
141*	South Africa	Nairobi (Gymk)	2000/01	India
117	New Zealand	Nairobi (Gymk)	2000/01	New Zealand
144	Zimbabwe	Ahmedabad	2000/01	India
127	South Africa	Johannesburg	2001/02	South Africa
111	Kenya	Paarl	2001/02	India
117*	England	Colombo (RPS)	2002/03	India
112*	Namibia	Pietermaritzburg	2002/03	India
107*	Kenya	Cape Town	2002/03	India
111*	Kenya	Durban	2002/03	India

The Chappell - Ganguly controversy

Controversies

County Cricket

Ganguly's County cricket career in England was not a success. In "The Wisden Cricketer" it was described as follows: "The imperious Indian - dubbed 'Lord Snooty' - deigned to represent Lancashire in 2000. At the crease it was sometimes uncertain whether his partner was a batsman or a batman being dispatched to take his discarded sweater to the pavilion or carry his kit bag. But mutiny was afoot among the lower orders. In one match Ganguly, after reaching his fifty, raised his bat to the home balcony, only to find it deserted. He did not inspire at Glamorgan or Northamptonshire either. At the latter in 2006 he averaged 4.80 from his four first-class appearances."

The Chappell - Ganguly controversy

Main article: Chappell Ganguly controversy

His dispute with then coach Greg Chappell resulted in many headlines during 2005 and early 2006. Greg Chappell emailed the BCCI stating that Ganguly was unfit to lead India and that his "divide and rule" behaviour was damaging the team. This email was leaked to the media and resulted in huge backlash from Ganguly's fans. Eventually due to his poor form and differences with the coach he was stripped of his captaincy and dropped from the team. However 10 months later, during India's tour to South Africa, Ganguly was recalled after his middle order replacements Suresh Raina and Mohammad Kaif suffered poor form.

Shirt take-off at Lords

The shirt that Ganguly took off during the celebrative mood after his team surprising win in Natwest Series Final

During the final match of the 2002 Natwest Trophy held in Lords after a stunning performance by team mates Yuvraj Singh and Mohammad Kaif, Sourav Ganguly took off his shirt in public and brandished it in the air to celebrate India's winning of the match. He was later strongly condemned for tarnishing the gentleman's game image of cricket and disrespecting Lords protocol. Ganguly said that he was only mimicking an act performed by the English all-rounder Andrew Flintoff during a tour of India.

Other controversies

Ganguly is an aggressive player and has often attracted controversy. He has attracted the wrath of match referrees quite a few times, the most severe of which was a ban for 6 matches by ICC match referee Clive Lloyd for slow over rates against Pakistan and therefore his tour to Sri Lanka for the Indian Oil Cup 2005 was uncertain. These circumstances led to Rahul Dravid being made captain for the tour. Later, Justice Albey Sachs reduced the punishment from 6 matches to 4, and this permitted Ganguly to join the team, but as a player and not captain. In his opening match he made the highest score of the side (51) taking (110) balls[3]. He was again named captain for the Zimbabwe tour of August-September 2005. With this, he has captained India in the highest number of Tests (49).

During the 2003 World Cup final against Australia, Ganguly won the toss and decided to field. This decision raised eyebrows but Sourav remained confident that there would be moisture on the pitch that would help his bowlers, however the bowlers flopped and Sourav performed poorly with the bat. India went on to lose by 125 runs, a staggering defeat.

Ganguly's performance in the last couple of seasons has been really poor. This put his place in the Indian team under pressure. In the tour of Zimbabwe, in which he was newly reinstated as skipper, Ganguly ground out a painfully slow century, against what is regarded as one of the weakest bowling attacks in international cricket. During the match he told reporters that newly-appointed coach Greg Chappell had asked him to stand down as captain - a comment which Chappell later played down. However, forty-eight hours after saying that he respected the Indian captain and looked forward to working with him in the future, Chappell sent an email to the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). Both Ganguly and Chappell were summoned to a BCCI board meeting in which they agreed to work together for the good of the team. Rahul Dravid was appointed captain for the series against Sri Lanka and South Africa after Ganguly was not selected for the opening games due to injury. When the two series got over, Rahul Dravid was asked to continue as skipper.

On November 22, 2005, Ganguly stepped down as captain of Bengal cricket team after being replaced as captain of the Indian Test team. He played in the first two Test matches in the three-Test series against Sri Lanka. However, on December 14, he was controversially dropped, for the third Test at Ahmedabad, to make way for Wasim Jaffer, an opening batsman for Mumbai. Jaffer was picked by the selectors as they wished to build up a player selection pool with sufficient experience to succeed at international level.

Despite this, he retained his A-grade contract from the BCCI, in December 2005.

Following the drop, fans blocked roads and railway tracks in Kolkata, burning effigies of chief selector Kiran More and Indian coach Chappell, and the urban development minister of West Bengal, Asoke Bhattacharya, said Ganguly was a victim of the internal politics of the BCCI. Cricinfo editor Sambit Bal wrote in a commentary that this was in all probability ... the end of the road for him. However, it was announced on December 25, 2005 that he was selected as part of the Indian team to tour Pakistan. Kiran More cited his experience as the key reason, with Mohammed Kaif being dropped. He was in the playing XI in the Lahore and Karachi Tests, but was dropped for the Faisalabad match. He was unable to play in the England home series and the West Indies tour. He was also not selected for the following Tri-series in Sri Lanka. However, he was chosen amongst 30 probables for the ICC Champions Trophy after being left out in the dark for almost close to a year. Ganguly failed in the Challenger Trophy, however, managing less than 30 runs in two games, and so the chances of recall to the ODI side look bleak.

Ganguly later sent an email hitting out at his one time mentor saying that Jagmohan Dalmiya did not deserve to become CAB president as he had played with his career and that Ganguly was a victim of internal politics within the BCCI. This was in the backdrop of the CAB elections which Jagmohan Dalmiya won.

International career

International career

Sourav Ganguly's career performance graph.

Ganguly made his One-Day International (ODI) debut for India against West Indies in 1992 scoring just 3 he was dropped immediately. He returned to International cricket four years later, following a good domestic record, he was recalled into the national side for a Test series in England. He made his Test debut at Lord's, scoring a century he became only the third cricketer to score a century on debut at Lord's, after Harry Graham and John Hampshire. (Andrew Strauss has also since accomplished this feat). In the next Test match at Trent Bridge he scored another century, 136, sharing in a 255 run stand with Sachin Tendulkar.

In 1997 Ganguly scored his maiden ODI century, opening the innings he scored 113, in his side's 238, against Sri Lanka later that year he won four consecutive Man of the match awards in the Sahara Cup with Pakistan the second of these was won after he took 5/16 off 10 overs, his best bowling in a ODI. After a barren run in Test cricket his form returned at the end of the year with three centuries in four Tests all against Sri Lanka two of this involved 250+ stands with Sachin Tendulkar.

In January 1998, he had one of his most memorable performances in the final of the Independence Cup at Dhaka against Pakistan he scored 124 as India successfully chased down 315 off 48 overs, winning the Man of the match award. In March 1998 he was part of the India team that beat Australia his biggest impact came in Calcutta as he took three wickets having opened the bowling with his medium pace.

In the 1999 World Cup Ganguly smashed 183 against Sri Lanka at Taunton, the innings took 158 balls and included 17 fours and 7 sixes. It is the second highest in World Cup history and the highest by an Indian in the tournament. His partnership of 318 with Rahul Dravid is the highest ever in the World Cup and is the second highest in all ODI cricket.

In 1999/00 India lost series to both Australia and South Africa in the five Tests Ganguly struggled scoring 224 runs at 22.40. However his ODI form was impressive with five centuries over the season taking him to the top of PwC One Day Ratings for batsmen.

In 2000, after the match fixing scandal Ganguly was named the captain of the India team. In the Champions Trophy of that year he scored 2 centuries but his second in the final was in vain as New Zealand won by four wickets.

In 2003 under his captaincy India reached the World Cup Final, where they lost to the Australians.

While he has achieved significant success as captain, his individual performance deteriorated during his captaincy, especially after successes in the World Cup, the tour of Australia in 2003 and the Pakistan series in 2004. Following indifferent form in 2004 and poor form in 2005, he was dropped from the team in October 2005. He remained active on the first-class cricket scene in hopes of a recall, but his performance was a mixed bag - he hit a couple of centuries in domestic cricket, but his English county stint in 2005 and subsequent appearances in the Challenger Trophy were failures.

Ganguly has 22 centuries in ODIs, in terms of number of centuries in ODIs, he is only behind Sachin Tendulkar, Sanath Jayasuriya and Ricky Ponting. Sourav, along with Sachin Tendulkar, formed by far the most successful opening pair in One Day Cricket, having amassed the highest number of century partnerships (26) for the first wicket. Together, they have scored more than 7000 runs at an average of 48.98, now with Sachin he is a world record holder for creating most no. of 50 run partnership in the first wicket(44 fifties).

Ganguly is the fourth player to cross 11,000 ODI runs and third player to cross 10,000 ODI runs and so far the fastest in ODI history, after Sachin Tendulkar. He also reached 6000, 7000, 8000 and 9000 ODI runs milestones in the fewest number of matches. Sourav can bowl medium-pacers as well, but has under-achieved in this aspect in Test matches, taking 28 wickets in 84 matches, at an average of 52.47. As of 2006, he is the only Indian captain to win a Test series in Pakistan (although two of the three tests of that series was led by Rahul Dravid).

In 2004, he was awarded the Padma Shri.

His older brother Snehasish Ganguly played first-class cricket for Bengal.

Ganguly's international cricket career could be bisected into 2 halves, the pre and the post Y2K eras. The significance of the year 2000 lies not only in the fact that he became the captain of the Indian team but also in the fact that the ICC introduced the one bouncer per over rule in ODIs starting from that year. This introduction of the rule by the ICC had a negative impact on Sourav Ganguly's batting average, which plunged from a high 45.5 before the year 2000 to a low 34.9 between the 5 year period of 2001-2005 . Also, against Test playing nations (which included Zimbabwe and Bangladesh), his overall average plunged further down to 30.66, as did his 'away' average which fell to 29. He managed to score only (6) centuries between 2001-2005, of which 3 centuries were against Kenya & 1 was against Namibia. This sudden drop in his batting average against Test playing nations after 2001 was clearly a result of the short pitched bowling he had to encounter from opposition bowlers. As S.Rajesh, the assistant editor of Cricinfo analyzes, Ganguly has been dismissed numerous times fending off the short ball.

Also, Ganguly's Test career had been riddled with lean patches, the first of which stretched for 3 years from Dec 1999 to Dec 2002, during which his batting average fell to 31.77 in 36 consecutive Test matches over 60 innings. The next biggest lean patch of his career occurred after the 2003 World Cup, when his ODI average fell to 28 and this was when his place in the team was questioned by numerous Indian cricket fans. He averaged 24.95 in 25 ODI matches between August 2004 and September 2005 , before being finally dropped from the ODI side.

Despite his hot and cold streaks Ganguly is only the third Indian Test match batsman to maintain a career average that never dipped below 40 runs per innings for his entire Test career. The other two who achieved this feat are Sunil Gavaskar and Mohammad Azharuddin.

Ganguly also shares with G.R. Viswanath the Indian record for scoring at least 10 or more centuries and never being on the losing side in every match in which they had scored a century. He also shares with Mohammad Azharuddin the record of scoring two consecutive hundreds in his first two Test matches, though Azharuddin bettered that by scoring a third consecutive hundred in his third Test match.

Ganguly has the highest Test and ODI aggregate of any left-handed batsman India has produced and his 13 Test and 22 ODI centuries are also a record for any Indian left-hander.

It was, however, as captain of the Indian team that Ganguly's biggest achievements occurred. He led India in 49 Test Matches, winning 21 of those, including 12 of them outside India. All three figures are records for Indian Test captains. He also led India to their first series wins in both Tests and ODIs in Pakistan, a feat that had eluded India for over 50 years. Ganguly also led India to more Test wins (12) outside India between 2000 and 2005 than all Indian captains had done between 1980 and 2000. He led India to victory over Steve Waugh's Australia in the 2001 Border-Gavaskar trophy which is considered one of the greatest in Indian cricket history.

Rahul Dravid once commented, "On the off-side, first there is God, then there is Ganguly”.

Comeback

In November 2006 Ganguly was selected by the national board of selectors, chaired by Dilip Vengsarkar, in the team for the three-Test series against South Africa. The decision came after India could not reach even the Semi-finals of the Champions Trophy, held in India, as well as losing the opening three games of an ODI series with South Africa. The selectors decided to back experience in a total reversal of coach Greg Chappell's mission to inject fresh blood into the Indian cricket team and Ganguly was selected alongside VVS Laxman and Zaheer Khan, who had also been removed from the Test team recently. Ganguly and Zaheer both fared well. Ganguly emerged as the leading run getter for India in the recently concluded Test series with South Africa.

After being dropped from the side for almost eight months, Ganguly was recalled to the Test team for the series against South Africa in December 2006, after an injury to Yuvraj Singh. And after the recall, in his first warm up match against Rest of South Africa, he scored 83 runs when his team was in troublesome position at 69/5. This knock helped India win against Rest of South Africa.

He went on to play a crucial knock in the first test match, scoring 51 not out in the first innings in a low scoring game. India went on to win the match, its first win in South African soil for 17 years. Though India ended up losing the next two test matches and thus the series, Ganguly emerged as the top run scorer for India, with an aggregate of 214.

In the next series against Sri Lanka, his performance of 168 runs from 3 matches earned him the "Man of the Series Award". It was his first MoS Award in 6 years.

On January 12, 2007 after his successful Test comeback he was recalled for the ODI team, 15 months after he was dropped from the ODI side, as India played host to West Indies and Sri Lanka in back to back ODI tournaments. He staged an excellent comeback by scoring a match-winning 98 run knock in Nagpur on his return in the first ODI. Based on his performances (which included a Man of the Series Award in the Sri Lankan series). Ganguly was named to the World Cup Squad. He scored 66 runs against Bangladesh in India's opening game at the 2007 World Cup however India lost this match and were knocked out of the tournament in the group stage.

To date Ganguly is the highest Indian rungetter of 2007 in ODIs even though he has played less matches than others. Currently he is the 3rd highest rungetter of 2007 in ODIs worldwide.

Sourav Ganguly

Sourav Ganguly
India
Personal information
Batting style	Left hand bat
Bowling style	Right arm medium
Career statistics
	Tests	ODIs
Matches	96	302
Runs scored	5812	11147
Batting average	41.21	41.43
100s/50s	13/29	22/71
Top score	173	183
Balls bowled	2708	4447
Wickets	28	100
Bowling average	53.78	37.71
5 wickets in innings	0	2
10 wickets in match	0	n/a
Best bowling	3/37	5/16
Catches/stumpings	64/0	100/0
As of September 6, 2007

Sourav Ganguly

Sourav Chandidas Ganguly (Bengali: সৌরভ গাঙ্গুলী) (pronunciation (help·info)) (first name occasionally spelt Saurav) is an Indian cricketer and is the most successful Test captain of the Indian national cricket team. Born 8 July 1972, Ganguly lives at Barisha in Kolkata (formerly Calcutta).

Ganguly is a left-handed batsman and a right-handed medium-pace bowler. Ganguly is naturally right-handed, but became a left-handed batsman at a young age so that he could use his brother, Snehasish's equipment.

Ganguly has been nicknamed Bengal Tiger, Prince of Calcutta, Lord Snooty by his opponents, and affectionately Dada (which means elder brother in Bengali) by his team-mates.

Ganguly was the captain of the Indian cricket team from 2000 to 2005. He led India to the 2003 World Cup final, and holds the Indian captaincy record for the most Test victories (21).

Following an exit from the national team in early 2006, Ganguly was recalled to the Indian test side in December, staging a successful comeback in the 2006 - 2007 Indian tour of South Africa.

Achievements

Awards

Award	Year	Description
31 Man of the match in ODI	-	Click here for a detailed list
4 Man of the match in Tests	-	Click here for a detailed list
7 Man of the series in ODI	-	Click here for a detailed list
2 Man of the series in Tests	-	Click here for a detailed list
Sportstar Person of the Year	1998	Awarded by the Sportstar Magazine
Arjuna Award	1998	For outstanding performance in cricket
CEAT Cricketer of the Year	99-00	Cash prize of 5 lakh rupees and a trophy
CEAT Indian Captain of the Year	01-02	For outstanding achievement as leader
Award for Cricketing Excellence	2003	Presented to men who made "the difference"
Padma Shri	2004	4th highest civilian award in India
Rammohan Roy Award	2004	For outstanding performance as captain

Cricket Achievements

July 1996: Became one of the few cricketers who have scored a century on debut. He made his Test debut against England at Lords in 1996, and went on to score a century in the very next match as well. He joined another select brand of 3 batsman who made tons in their 1st two Test innings.

July 1996: Sourav was only the 3rd batsman in the world to score a century on debut at Lords. His 131 still remains the highest by any batsman on his debut at Lord’s.

Aug 1997: Completed 1000 ODI runs in 34 ODIs in a game against Sri Lanka.

Nov 1997: Completed 1000 Test runs in 15 Tests in a game against Sri Lanka.

1997: Became the first player to receive 5 consecutive Man of the Match awards in one-dayers in the Sahara 1997 Cup. He also won the Man of the Series.

1997: Scored 1000 runs in a calendar year (1338 runs) in ODI and made the highest number of runs by any player in ODI for 1997.

April 1998: Completed 2000 ODI runs in 65 ODIs in a game against Australia.

1998: Scored 1000 runs in a calendar year (1328 runs) in ODI.

Jan 1999: Completed 3000 ODI runs in 87 ODIs in a game against New Zealand.

Feb 1999: Completed 2000 Test runs in 27 Tests in a game against Sri Lanka.

Mar 1999: Sourav became one of the few distinct players in the World to score a century and take 4 wickets in an ODI match.

May 1999: Sourav’s highest one day score, a mammoth 183 against Sri Lanka in the 1999 World Cup was, at the time, the highest by an Indian in an ODI, breaking Kapil Dev’s record of 173.

May 1999: His 183 against Sri Lanka remains the highest by an Indian in a World Cup.

May 26 1999: Was involved in the 2nd highest partnership in ODIs: a 318-run partnership with Dravod vs. SL in the 99 World Cup. Rahul & Sourav became the 1st pair to put up a 300 run partnership in ODIs.

Aug 1999: Completed 4000 ODI runs in 110 ODIs in a game against Sri Lanka.

1999: Sourav bagged as many as 8 Man of the Match awards in the year!

1999: Scored 1000 runs in a calendar year (1767 runs) in ODI and made the highest number of runs by any player in ODI for 1999.

Jan 2000: Completed 5000 ODI runs in 131 ODIs in a game against Pakistan.

Feb 2000: Became the captain of the Indian team when Sachin Tendulkar stepped down in Feb of 2000.

Oct 2000: Fastest in the world to complete 6000 ODI runs in 152 ODIs in a game against Zimbabwe.

2000: Scored 1000 runs in a calendar year (1579 runs) in ODI and made the highest number of runs by any player in ODI for 2000.

2001: Sourav and Sachin became one of the most successful opening pairs ever in one-day cricket!

Mar 2001: In the 2nd Test vs. Australia at Kolkata in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, Sourav became only the 3rd captain in Cricket history to lead a team to victory after following on. India went on to win the series 2-1!

Oct 2001: Fastest in the world to complete 7000 ODI runs in 180 ODIs in a game against Kenya.

Nov 2001: Completed 3000 Test runs in 47 Tests in a game against South Africa.

2001: Sourav and Tendulkar were involved in a World Record Opening Partnership of 252.

Sep 2002: Completed 4000 Test runs in 62 Tests in a game against England.

Nov 2002: Fastest in the world to complete 8000 ODI runs in 208 ODIs in a game against WI.

2002: Scored 1000 runs in a calendar year (1114 runs) in ODI.

March 2003: Became the 1st Indian Captain in 2 decades to take his team to the World Cup Final!

2003 World Cup: Became the 2nd highest century maker in ODIs, after Sachin Tendulkar.

Jan 2004: Led his team to a 1-1 series draw against Australia and retained the Border-Gavaskar trophy (2003-2004).

Jan 2004: Fastest in the world to complete 9000 ODI runs in 236 ODIs in a game against Australia.

2004: Became the fastest player to score 9,000 runs in ODIs (in just 236 matches and 228 innings), breaking fellow teammate Sachin Tendulkar's record of 242 ODIs.

Mar - Apr 2004: Became the first Indian captain to win an ODI and Test series in Pakistan.

April 2004: Became India’s most successful Test captain, with 18 test wins in just five years, of which 9 have come on foreign soil. No other Indian Captain has achieved such a feat.

May 2004: Joined the top 20 list of players who hit the most sixes in Test cricket, with 41 sixes.

Feb 2005: Climbed to the #3 spot in the list of most sixes hit by a batsman in ODI with 168 sixes in 247 matches.

April 2005: Became only the 3rd cricketer and 2nd Indian after Mohammed Azharuddin to make 5000 ODI runs as skipper in the Pepsi Cup vs. Pakistan.

August 2005: Sourav's fifty in the 3rd ODI against Sri Lanka in the tri-nation series in Sri Lanka helped him pass 10,000 runs in ODIs. He was only the 3rd cricket4r and 2nd Indian to achieve this rare feat.

December 2006: After being out of the side because of politics for 10 months, Dada is recalled to the Indian Team for the South Africa Test series after India recd a drubbing at the hands of the hosts in the ODI series, losing 0-4. This is the 1st test team selection after Kiran More stepping down and Vengsarkar taking over as Chief Selector.

Jan 6, 2007: Dada emerges the highest run-getter for India in the South Africa Test series with 2 50s and 214 runs in all. Silences decorators within and outside the team with his remarkable return to Test cricket.

Jan 21, 2007: After a terrific comeback into the Test side, Dada is recalled into the ODI team after a gap of 1 and a half years. The Maharaj makes a brilliant comeback in one-dayers also with an explosive 98 off 110 balls. Dada is back on top and is hailed by fans and critics alike.

Feb 12, 07: After scoring 168 runs in the home series vs WI at an average of 56.08, Dada is picked in the final 15 men squad for the World Cup in the Caribbean. His dream finally comes true!

Feb 17, 2007: Dada is awarded the MAN OF THE SERIES award in the home series vs. SL for making the most runs in the series - 168 runs in 3 games at an average of 84.00! In the six matches since his recall, Dada scores four 50s. Across the country, he is hailed as the "KING OF COMEBACKS" for making one of the strongest comebacks ever in the history of cricket. This award comes in only his 2nd series after the recall and after a gap of 6 yrs.

June 29, 2007: With their 134 run open partnership against South Africa in the 2nd ODI of the Future Cup in Belfast, Sourav and Sachin Tendulkar registered their 17th 100-run open stand to become the most successful opening pair in ODI cricket history. Sourav and Sachin reclaimed their record after Adam Gilchrist and Mathew Hayden had edged past in Feb 2007.

August 27, 2007: Sourav reaches 11,000 ODI runs in the 3rd ODI against England in the Natwest Series. He is only the second Indian after Tendulkar and fourth player in the world to achieve the feat. He is also the second fastest after Tendulkar to reach 11k.

September 2, 2007: Sourav is only the 4th Indian player and 8th overall to reach 300 one-day internationals in the 5th ODI vs. England in the Natwest Series at Leeds. Dada celebrated his 300th ODI in style with a man-of-the match performance that bought India back into the 7-ODI series after being 3-1 down.

September 2, 2007: Sachin and Sourav put their 19th century open-partnership together in the 5th ODI vs. England in the Natwest Series at Leeds, crossing 6,000 runs as an opening pair - the highest ever in ODI cricket.

Maharaj weds the Dancing Queen

Maharaj weds the Dancing Queen

This is the typical Hindi film love story of Sourav and Dona Ganguly.

We don’t know if it was the result of his schooling in St. Xavier’s or because of any special message he gleaned from the Bible, but Sourav took the Christian adage, ‘Love thy Neighbor’ a bit too seriously. He took this instruction to completely new heights when he fell in love with Dona, whose family lived next door to the Gangulys. In fact, the Ganguly and Roy households share a common boundary wall in their Behala neighborhood.

Dona was a student of Loreto Convent. Sourav always took a drive around Dona’s school, hoping to see her. Even if he didn’t see Dona, just the thought of her being around brought a huge smile to his face.

But like every great romance, theirs too was marked with difficulties. Sourav’s family was against intercaste marriages. Moreover, though their families were once business partners, somewhere down the line, problems in business had soured their relationship, giving rise to lasting bitterness. Thus, in true Romeo and Juliet style, an alliance of any sort between the two families was strictly unacceptable.

Sourav and Dona grew up together and managed to keep in touch through secret meetings even after the split. Even as the two families kept their distance, Dona watched Sourav play cricket and Sourav attended her dance recitals. Dona was in class XII when things became serious between them. But the couple had to do everything to keep it a secret not only because their parents were conservative, but also because their fathers, who were best of friends at one time, had suddenly become sworn enemies.

When the news of Sourav and Dona’s romance reached the Ganguly household, they made it very clear that they wouldn’t

approve of a non-Brahmin girl as their daughter-in-law. Sourav was undaunted by his family’s disapproval and continued with the romance. However, he kept is as secret as possible. Sourav always knew that Dona was the woman for him.

Those days, Sourav was busy carving a niche for himself in the world of cricket while Dona was pursuing dance. She is a student of legendary guru, Late Kelucharan Mahapatra and her dream was to become an Odissi dancer. Today, she is an accomplished Odissi dancer with numerous credits to her name and also runs her own dance school in Kolkata. Both Sourav and Dona were focused about their respective careers and wanted to get married only after becoming successful in their chosen areas of specialization.

Finally, the time came when they decided to go ahead with their plans of tying the knot. This was immediately after Sourav returned from his triumphant Test debut at Lord’s. The whole city was rejoicing along with the Ganguly household. Sourav thought this was the opportune moment and confided in Moloy Banerjee who is a highly respected cricketer from Bengal and told him about his plans. Banerjee, personally very close to Sourav, was initially apprehensive about going against his family. He later agreed and as he says, “I can’t say no to Maharaj.” When Dona was asked who proposed to whom and when, she immediately replied that its too private a matter to be disclosed. Sourav later disclosed why he went against his family to marry Dona. "I realised that I couldn't stay away from her any more and I didn't care what the elders felt".

On the appointed day, Sourav and Dona arrived at Banerjee’s home in a south Kolkata colony. From there, they drove to the registrar’s office and as luck would have it, Banerjee was the first to step in. There, he saw the place teeming with photographers and enthusiastic fans. He realized that somehow, the news of Sourav’s marriage was leaked out and if they weren’t careful, the next day’s papers would be splashed with the wedding photos. Banerjee decided that the best thing to do would be to smuggle the registrar along with the official documents and conduct the ceremony somewhere else, where the media would leave the celebrity couple in peace.

The registrar was made to collect all necessary papers and made part of the entourage, which now headed back to the Banerjee house. The wedding formalities were completed and thus, Sourav and Dona were formally married. The marriage took place in the living room of Moloy Banerjee’s home, on August 12, 1996. The fact that Sourav had eloped with his childhood sweetheart and neighbor caught both families unaware. When they married, Sourav was 23 and Dona, just 20 years of age.

It was essential that neither the families nor the press found out before Sourav left for Colombo, two days later. The idea was for Sourav to be out of the country when the news broke, so he and Dona won’t be hounded by the media. And so, the plan worked, even though the media got a wind of it before Sourav’s departure.

Shyam Sunder Gupta, the marriage registrar who got the young couple married commented that Dona looked extremely happy but Sourav seemed ‘terribly scared of what he had done and the effect it would have on his family, especially his father’.

When the news reached their families, all hell broke loose. After a while, their anger subsided and they went ahead and accepted the decision made by their headstrong son.

A lavish, formal wedding ceremony was conducted on February 21, 1997 and this time, no attempt was made to stop the photographs from reaching the front of the newspapers! This is the day when Sourav and Dona celebrate their wedding anniversary. For Dona, Sourav is still the next-door neighbor, her best friend, with whom she fell in love later. She says that she fell in love with the man, not the cricketer.

It has been 10 lovely years now since Sourav and Dona got married, and the melodramatic start to their life together seems aeons away. Both of them are pursuing their respective

careers with full ardency and devotion. Today, they are also very proud parents of a little girl named Sana, (born November 3 2001). In fact, their entire world revolves around the five-year old. Their marriage has been able to withstand all pressures, be it Sourav’s hectic schedule or rumors appearing in film magazines. Thus, the love story of the Maharaj and the Dancing Queen has had the perfect ending.