Legends of Our Time: Sourav Ganguly (India)
Full Name: Sourav Chandidas Ganguly
Born: July 8, 1972
Height: 5 ft 11 in
Nationality: India
Role: Former Indian Captain, Left-Handed Batsman
Popularly known as "Prince of Kolkata" and "Dada (Brother)", Sourav Ganguly is arguably one of the most successful Indian cricketer. The left-handed genius entered the international cricketing world with his ODI debut against West Indies in 1992. But he couldn't make an impression in debut match and was dropped from the team.
In 1996 Ganguly made his test debut at the Lord’s with a blasting century and scored 131 runs (that was the highest run scored by any batsman on debut at Lord’s). He again scored a century in the next test.
In 1997 he became “Man of the Match” in four consecutive ODIs against Pakistan which also included some excellent bowling efforts. He ended the year with three Test centuries against Sri Lanka.
In 1999 Cricket World Cup, Ganguly scored 183 runs off just 158 balls against Sri Lanka and set the record for the highest score by an Indian batsman. He also entered into the record book for 318-run partnership with Rahul Dravid which was the highest ever partnership in the world cup history.
Ganguly led India to the world cup finals in 2003 before Australia shattered their dreams. During his captaincy between 2000 and 2005, India won 21 out of 49 Test matches including 12 overseas victories.
He retired from international cricket with the test series against Australia in 2008.
He played 113 Test matches and scored 7212 runs including 16 hundred and 35 fifties. In ODIs, he played 311 matches and scored 11221 runs including 22 centuries and 72 fifties. As a bowler he took 100 ODI wickets.
In 2004 Indian government awarded Sourav Ganguly with Padma Shri (the fourth-highest civilian award in the Republic of India) for his magnanimous contribution to the world of cricket.