Sourav Ganguly Birthday Special: A look at career, accomplishments of 'Dada'

Happy Birthday Sourav Ganguly: One of the greatest battlers and captains of all time in sport’s history, legendary Indian batter Sourav Ganguly turned 51 on Saturday.

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Sourav Ganguly: Cricket debut  

Ever since his international cricket debut in 1992, Ganguly's bold, ferocious personality and strokeplay earned him not only the nickname 'Dada', but also the captaincy of Team India. He was the skipper who took over an Indian team struggling match-fixing saga in the 2000s and taught them how to win no matter what conditions and backed young cricketers who would go on to become world champions collectively in future. His off-side was among the best in the game and he mesmerised fans with his cuts and drives in that region of the ground, earning him the nickname 'God of Offside'.

In the long format, Sourav played 113 matches. He scored 7,212 runs at an average of 42.17. He smashed 16 centuries and 35 half-centuries in 188 innings, with the best score of 239. He is the seventh-highest run-scorer for India in Test cricket. He smashed a century on his Test debut against England at the Lord's in 1996.

Border-Gavaskar Trophy

As a captain, he led India in 49 matches. Out of this, India won 21 matches, lost 13 and drew 15 matches. With a win percentage of 42.85, he is one of the most successful captains for India. In 2001, the Ganguly-led side defeated Australia 2-1 in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.   

The Australian team, captained by Steve Waugh, challenged India to follow on in the series, but VVS Laxman and Rahul Dravid staged one of the greatest comebacks in Indian cricket history in the second Test at Kolkata. This Test series win is considered as one of India's best.

Ganguly has also represented India in 311 ODIs, scoring 11,363 runs at an average of 41.02. He has scored 22 centuries and 72 half-centuries in 300 innings, with the best score of 183. He is the ninth-highest run-scorer in ODI cricket and the third-highest run-scorer for India in ODIs.

Ganguly is the fourth-fastest to 7,000 (174 innings), 8,000 (200 innings) and 9,000 ODI runs (228 innings) and third-fastest to 10,000 ODI runs (263 innings).

His run in 2000 as a batter made him the player with second highest runs in ODIs in a calendar year. In that year, Ganguly played 32 ODIs, scoring 1,579 runs at an average of 56.39. He also scored seven centuries and six fifties, with the best score of 144.

ICC Knockout Trophy

Ganguly led India to the finals of the 2000 ICC Knockout Trophy for the first time. India and SL also shared the title in 2002 after the final was abandoned due to rain.

Most memorable moment 

Ganguly's most memorable moment was definitely when he removed his shirt on the Lord's balcony and started waving it, when India famously beat England from the jaws of defeat in the Natwest Trophy finals in 2002. Ganguly also led India to the World Cup finals in 2003, where they narrowly lost to Australia in the championship game.   

Overall, Ganguly represented India in 424 matches, scoring 18,575 runs in 488 innings at an average of 41.46. He has scored a total of 38 centuries and 107 fifties, with the best score of 239. He is the 15th-highest run-scorer of all time in international cricket. Ganguly is also the fourth-highest run-scorer for India in international cricket.

Ganguly’s achievements   

No matter what Ganguly's figures as a batter and captain are, Ganguly's two biggest achievements in cricket are: His winning mentality, which taught India how to win and overcome difficult conditions/situations and him backing future superstars like MS Dhoni, Yuvraj Singh, Zaheer Khan, Harbhajan Singh, Irfan Pathan, Gautam Gambhir and Virender Sehwag, who would go on to win major ICC tournaments for India with their performances.