Sourav Chandidas Ganguly

Born July 8, 1972, Calcutta, Bengal

Current age 46

Major team India

Batting style Left Handed

Bowling style Right-arm medium

ODI Debut January 11, 1992 v West Indies at Brisbane Cricket Ground (Woolloongabba), Brisbane

Regarded as one of India’s most successful captains in modern times, Sourav Ganguly will be best remembered for his elegant cricketing style and vast contribution to cricket in India in a career spanning around 15 long years. He was not only India's most successful overseas Test captain, but also ensured he infuse an unknown term in Indian cricket - aggression. The 2003 World Cup final would always be his biggest achievement where most of the critics did not give India much chance.

The “Prince of Kolkata” went on to become one of the greatest ODI batsmen of all time, although his career halted at intervals. He became an effective Test captain, carving a bunch of young and talented players into a winning unit. His stroke play was a combination of grace and precision, and his domination on the off-side masked him as the “God of off side”. While his critics opined that he was unable to face bouncers, others were amazed by his marvelous ability to galvanize the field on the off side with crystal clear precision. Together with Sachin Tendulkar, he formed one of the most damaging opening pairs in ODI cricket history. However, he was always under the hammer for his lack of fitness and athleticism.

“Dada” as he is fondly known, took over as the captain of the Indian team at a time when the game of cricket was disrupted with match-fixing allegations in 2000. Ganguly emerged as a tough, able and an adamant leader, who took his team to miraculous heights, winning Test matches away from home. India continued to be on the winning streak right till the 2003 ICC Cricket World Cup finals. Soon after, his career saw a downfall as the loss of his personal form coincided with India’s bland ODI performances and a new leader arrived in the form of Rahul Dravid. A fallout with Greg Chappell, the coach he himself suggested to the BCCI resulted and it looked like that was it. Surprisingly, he made a splendid comeback after being axed from captaincy and continued his prolific scoring in Test cricket. The “Maharaja” finally retired from international cricket in 2008 after playing his last Test against Australia at home.

Post retirement, Ganguly continued to play cricket for his state team, Bengal and also signed up with Kolkata in 2008 for the Indian T20 League. He represented the franchise till 2010, but was, shockingly left out of the 2011 auctions as none of the franchises bid for him; until Pune signed him in place of an injured Ashish Nehra. The following year, he led his franchise in absence of regular skipper Yuvraj Singh, and also became the mentor of his team. Dada soon took to commentary as well. He still remains an integral part of Indian cricket, serving as a member of the Cricket Advisory Committee.

Batting and Fielding Averages

Mat Inns No Runs HS Ave BF SR 100 50 4s 6s Ct St

Tests 113 188 17 7212 239 42.17 14070 51.25 16 35 900 57 71 0

ODIS 311 300 23 11363 183 41.02 15416 73.70 22 72 1122 190 100 0

First-class 254 399 44 15687 239 44.18 - - 33 89 - - 168 0

List A 437 421 43 15622 183 41.32 - - 31 97 - - 130 0

Twenty20 77 73 4 1726 91 25.01 1613 107.00 0 8 184 51 28 0

Bowling Averages

Mat Inns Balls Runs Wkts Ave Econ SR 4w 5w 10

Tests 113 99 3117 1681 32 52.53 3.23 97.40 0 0 0

ODIS 311 171 4561 3849 100 38.49 5.06 45.61 1 2 0

First-class 254 247 11108 6099 167 36.52 3.29 66.51 2 4 0

List A 437 270 8199 6646 172 38.63 4.86 47.66 4 2 0

Twenty20 77 37 573 756 29 26.06 7.91 19.75 0 0 0

Split by Team in Tests

Mat Inns BARU BAAV SR HS HU FI CT ST OV MAD WI ER

Australia 24 44 4 1403 35.07 52.58 144 2 7 12 0 75 16 6

Bangladesh 5 6 0 371 61.83 57.87 100 1 3 7 0 4 2 0

England 12 19 2 983 57.82 53.04 136 3 5 3 0 93.5 17 8

New Zealand 8 15 3 563 46.91 59.01 125 3 2 7 0 31 5 1

Pakistan 12 20 1 902 47.47 55.30 239 2 4 8 0 80 14 5

South Africa 17 31 3 947 33.82 55.31 87 0 7 8 0 85 17 5

Sri Lanka 14 24 1 1064 46.26 45.02 173 3 4 4 0 76.4 18 5

West Indies 12 16 2 449 32.07 41.53 75* 0 2 14 0 49 15 1

Zimbabwe 9 13 1 530 44.16 45.41 136 2 1 8 0 25 6 1

Split by Team in ODIs

Mat Inns BARU BAAV SR HS HU FI CT ST OV MAD WI ER

Australia 35 33 0 774 23.45 67.71 100 1 5 12 0 57.5 0 7

Bangladesh 10 10 2 459 57.37 75.61 135* 1 4 2 0 30 2 0

England 26 26 1 975 39.00 76.11 117* 1 7 4 0 85.1 0 12

New Zealand 32 31 1 1079 35.96 74.20 153* 3 6 11 0 78.4 7 9

Pakistan 53 50 3 1652 35.14 71.82 141 2 9 12 0 181.1 12 29

South Africa 29 29 3 1313 50.50 76.55 141* 3 8 7 0 34.4 0 6

Sri Lanka 44 40 2 1534 40.36 72.52 183 4 9 19 0 109.4 2 13

West Indies 27 27 3 1142 47.58 72.18 98 0 11 12 0 45 2 5

Zimbabwe 36 36 4 1367 42.71 74.82 144 3 7 15 0 99 4 19

Bermuda 1 1 0 89 89.00 78.07 89 0 1 0 0 0 0 0

Ireland 1 1 1 73 - 73.73 73* 0 1 1 0 6 1 0

Kenya 11 10 2 588 73.50 78.92 111* 3 2 4 0 26 0 0

Netherlands 1 1 0 8 8.00 25.00 8 0 0 0 0 4 0 0

Africa XI 2 2 0 120 60.00 85.10 88 0 1 1 0 3 0 0

Namibia 1 1 1 112 - 94.11 112* 1 0 0 0 0 0 0

United Arab Emirates 1 1 0 56 56.00 54.90 56 0 1 0 0 0 0 0

ICC World XI 1 1 0 22 22.00 55.00 22 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Last 5 Matches in Tests

Batting

85(153) v Australia on November 6, 2008

0(1) v Australia on November 6, 2008

5(8) v Australia on October 29, 2008

32*(53) v Australia on October 29, 2008

102(225) v Australia on October 17, 2008

27(37) v Australia on October 17, 2008

47(115) v Australia on October 9, 2008

26*(68) v Australia on October 9, 2008

35(57) v Sri Lanka on August 8, 2008

18(50) v Sri Lanka on August 8, 2008

Bowling

DNB vs Australia on November 6, 2008

DNB vs Australia on October 29, 2008

DNB vs Australia on October 17, 2008

DNB vs Australia on October 9, 2008

0/11 vs Sri Lanka on August 8, 2008

0/4 vs Sri Lanka on August 8, 2008