Saurav Ganguly
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Saurav Chandidas Ganguly (first name also spelt Sourav) (born 8 July 1972, in Calcutta, West Bengal) is the captain of Indian cricket team (test team since November 10, 2000 and ODI team since September 5, 1999). He is ambidextrous, a left-handed batsman and a right-handed medium bowler.
Nicknamed as "Bengal Tiger" and affectionately called as "Dada" by his teammates, he displays a mixture of ultra-aggression and passionate grooming of youngsters in Indian Cricket and has been credited with identifying a number of talented youngsters for the team. Himself a humble, shy guy, he made his ODI debut in 1992 but his talent was noticed in India's 1996 tour of England when he scored centuries in his debut Test match, as well as the next one (the second and third Tests of the series). He became only the third cricketer ever to score a century on debut at Lord's after Harry Graham and John Hampshire. He scored 183 against Sri Lanka at Taunton in the 1999 cricket WorldCup, the highest by an Indian in World Cup cricket.
His record is good both in Test and one-day cricket: 11 centuries in Tests and 22 in arguably the most successful opening pair (with Sachin Tendulkar) ever in one-day cricket. This pair has the highest number of century partnership (16) for the first wicket. They together have scored 5621 runs at an average of 49.30. His position as opener has now been replaced by Virender Sehwag. He is known for hitting the "big sixes". He is also a useful extra bowler as a medium pacer.
Ganguly's record as captain is outstanding. Numerically, he has more Test wins to his credit than any other Indian captain. He is the only Indian Captain to win both the One Day and Test Series on Pakistani soil. More importantly, he has been credited with transforming the Indian players into a vibrant team with an excellent team spirit.
On the other hand, he is a temperamental player and has often attracted controversy. He is religious, and, some commentators have suggested, also superstitious. It appears that he makes various decisions — some trivial, such as the number on his jersey, and others important, such as batting position — based on numerological considerations.
External links
- Cricinfo Player Profile : Sourav Chandidas Ganguly (http://usa.cricinfo.com/db/PLAYERS/IND/G/GANGULY_SC_06002024/)