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.