Ganguly to retire after Australia series

India’s most successful Test captain, Sourav Ganguly, has decided to retire from cricket at the end of the four-Test series against Australia. The ‘Prince of Kolkata’ made the announcement at a press conference held in Bangalore.

“I have decided to quit and told my teammates about it. Australia series will be my last series,” said Ganguly. The dashing southpaw was only the seventh batsman in the history of ODI cricket to score 10,000 runs in the fifty-over format.

In 311 ODIs, he scored a phenomenal 11,363 runs with 22 tons and 72 half-centuries. He clearly ruled the shorter format and topped the batting charts for most runs in a calendar year thrice in his career (1997, 1999, 2000). ‘Dada’, as he is fondly called, also holds the record for bagging four consecutive ‘Man of the Match’ awards in ODIs. He is one of only three players to complete the treble of 10,000 runs, 100 wickets and 100 catches in ODIs.

An integral member of the ‘Fab Four’, he captained India for a record 41 Tests and guided his team to 21 Test wins, the most by an India captain. He also led India to its first series wins in both Tests and ODIs in Pakistan, a feat that had eluded India for over 50 years. Ganguly is also the seventh Indian cricketer to have played 100 Test matches and is currently the fifth highest overall run-scorer for India in Tests with 6888 runs.

Known for strong fight-backs, he made a stunning comeback after being recalled for the South Africa series. He was also the second highest run-scorer for India in 2007 but was left out of the ODI set-up. Speculations about him being axed from the Test side grew after being dropped for the Irani game that followed a mediocre performance in Sri Lanka. A new set of selectors under Kris Srikkanth’s chairmanship named him in the 15-member squad that will take on Australia for the first two Tests.

It is imperative to note that Australia’s most successful captain, Steve Waugh, too decided to quit cricket at the end of the 2003-04 Border-Gavaskar Test series.