Sourav Ganguly

 

 The Prince of Calcutta, Sourav Ganguly is a former Indian cricketer and captain of the Indian national team. Currently, he is a cricket commentator and President of the Editorial Board with Wisden India. He is regarded as one of India's most successful captains in modern times. In 2002, the Wisden Cricketers Almanack ranked him the sixth greatest ODI batsman of all time, next to Viv Richards, Sachin Tendulkar, Brian Lara, Dean Jones and Michael Bevan. His place in the Indian team got assured when he successfully performed in series against Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Australia, winning the Man of the Match awards.

In 1999 Cricket World Cup, he was involved in a partnership of 318 runs with Rahul Dravid, which remains the highest overall partnership score in the World Cup tournament history. In 2008, he has joined the Kolkata Knight Riders team as captain for Indian Premier League Twenty20 cricket tournament. Indian team was ranked at eighth position as per ICC rankings before he became the captain and under his occupancy the team rank went up to second position. On 20 May 2013, he was awarded with the Banga Bibhushan Award from the Government of West Bengal.

Personal Profile

Birth Name : Sourav Chandidas Gangopadhyay
Name : Sourav Ganguly
Nickname : The Prince of Calcutta, The Maharaja, The God of the Off Side, Dada, The Warrior Prince
Date of birth : 8 July, 1972
Place Of birth : Calcutta
Age : 41 years
Height : 5'9"
Zodiac sign : Cancer
Religion : Hindu
Brother : Snehasish Ganguly
Spouse : Dona Roy
Daughter : Sana Ganguly
Education : St Xavier's college
Occupation : Former captain and player of the Indian team
Batting style : Left-handed
Bowling style : Right arm medium
Role : Batsman

Career

Ganguly has started his cricket career from his schooling days. He worked hard in domestic cricket, scoring heavily in the 1993-94 and 1994-95 Ranji seasons. Following an innings of 171 in the 1995-96 Duleep Trophy, he was recalled to the National team for a tour of England in 1996, in the middle of intense media scrutiny. In the Test match at Trent Bridge he made 136, thus becoming the third batsman to make a century in each of his first two innings. He shared a 255 run stand with Sachin Tendulkar, which became the highest partnership at that time for India. In February 1997, Ganguly scored his maiden ODI century by hitting 113, opposite Sri Lanka's team. 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 five wickets for 16 runs off 10 overs, his best bowling in an ODI.

 In March 1998 he was part of the Indian team that defeated Australia in Kolkata. He took three wickets having opened the bowling with his medium pace. Ganguly scored 183 from 158 balls, and hit 17 fours and seven sixes. It became the second highest score in World Cup history and the highest by an Indian in the tournament. In 2003, India reached the World Cup Final for the first time since 1983, where they lost to the Australians. He had a successful tournament personally, scoring 465 runs at an average of 58.12, including three centuries. Ganguly was awarded the Padma Shri in 2004, India's fourth highest civilian award, in recognition of his distinguished contribution in the field of sports. He was presented with the award on 30 June 2004, by then President of India, Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam.

Family

Sourav Ganguly is the younger son of Chandidas and Nirupa Ganguly. He has one elder brother Snehasish Ganguly, who is also a cricketer. Chandidas ran a flourishing print business and was one of the richest men in the city. His father Chandidas Ganguly died at the age of 73 on 21 February 2013 after a long illness.

Marriage/Wife

Sourav Ganguly and Dona were childhood friends and also neighbours and later fall in love with each other. Dona is an Odissi dancer. They both had their first meal at Mandarin, near the Dhakuria Lakes. Then he was 23 years and she was 17 years old. Their families were sworn enemies at that time. Later their families accepted the marriage and a formal wedding took place in February 1997. The couple have a daughter Sana Ganguly. Sourav was in South Africa, when their daughter was born. So her name was kept by Ganguly's friend.

Virat Kohli better than Sachin Tendulkar in Australia: Sourav Ganguly

Former India captain Sourav Ganguly has rated Virat Kohli as the best touring player he has seen in Australia.

Kohli has been in sensational form against Australia with scores of 91, 59, 117 and 106 from the four ODIs. He is now the leading scorer in the series with 373 runs at an average of 93.25. Before this tour, Kohli averaged less than 16 against Australia in Australia.

Disappointed after India lost the four ODIs by 25 runs, despite being firmly in control for most of the 349-run chase, Ganguly said Kohli was the only bright spot in the side.

"The only positive from India's tour of Australia is Virat Kohli," Ganguly told Sports Today. He just keeps getting better and better in Australia. I have seen a lot of player do very well in Australia, like Sachin Tendulkar and VVS Laxman but I think Kohli is the best."

However, Ganguly was far from impressed with the rest of his teammates, including under-fire limited-overs captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni.

Dhoni has kept stressing that there have been improvements in the team but Ganguly failed to see any "marked" changes.

"There is no marked improvement from the rest. Dhoni's overseas performances haven't got better, neither have the spinners'."

Ganguly praised openers Rohit Sharma, who has scored 342 runs including two hundreds and Shikhar Dhawan, who has amassed 209 runs with one fifty and a hundred but said the rest needed to catch up.

"The team is not getting better in case of overseas performances. Yes, Kohli, Dhawan and Rohit have been very good but it's not just about individuals," Ganguly said.

The 43-year-old, who changed India's overseas fortunes during his tenure as India captain said the team management needed to reach out to the inexperienced players like Gurkeerat Singh Mann and Rishi Dhawan, who panicked under pressure in the course of India's stiff chase.

"The lower-order batsmen panicked and the inexperience showed. There should have been some message from the dressing-room. Ravindra Jadeja (who remained unbeaten on 24) needed to show them some direction. These are important in close matches."

Ganguly said India should not have lost the penultimate ODI of the five-match series given the way Dhawan and Kohli batted. The two were involved in a 212-run stand for the second wicket but India lost nine wickets for 46 runs in 12 overs to concede the game to Australia.