intellgents: Sourav Ganguly profile

Sourav Ganguly

India

Full name Sourav Chandidas Ganguly
Born July 8, 1972, Calcutta (now Kolkata), Bengal
Current age 35 years 149 days
Major teams India, ACC Asian XI, Asia XI, Bengal, Glamorgan, Lancashire
Batting style Left-hand bat
Bowling style Right-arm medium
Height 5 ft 11 in
Education St Xavier's College
Relations Brother - Snehasish C Ganguly

Batting and fielding averages
	Mat	Inns	NO	Runs	HS	Ave	BF	SR	100	50	4s	6s	Ct
Tests	97	157	14	5868	173	41.03	11775	49.83	13	29	753	47	64
ODIs	311	300	23	11363	183	41.02	15416	73.70	22	72	1122	190	100
First-class	223	348	40	13441	200*	43.63			28	77			158
List A	420	404	42	15125	183	41.78			31	93			128
Twenty20	18	17	1	377	73	23.56	350	107.71	0	1	47	9	6

Bowling averages
	Mat	Inns	Balls	Runs	Wkts	BBI	BBM	Ave	Econ	SR	4w	5w
Tests	97	88	2846	1554	31	3/28	3/37	50.12	3.27	91.8	0	0
ODIs	311	171	4561	3849	100	5/16	5/16	38.49	5.06	45.6	1	2
First-class	223		10637	5877	163	6/46		36.05	3.31	65.2		4
List A	420		7841	6373	167	5/16	5/16	38.16	4.87	46.9	4	2
Twenty20	18	17	297	393	19	3/27	3/27	20.68	7.93	15.6	0	0

Career statistics
Statistics	Statsguru Tests \| Statsguru ODIs
Test debut	England v India at Lord's, Jun 20-24, 1996 scorecard
Last Test	India v Pakistan at Delhi, Nov 22-26, 2007 scorecard
ODI debut	India v West Indies at Brisbane, Jan 11, 1992 scorecard
Last ODI	India v Pakistan at Gwalior, Nov 15, 2007 scorecard
First-class debut	1989/90
Last First-class	India v Pakistan at Delhi, Nov 22-26, 2007 scorecard
List A debut	1989/90
Last List A	India v Pakistan at Gwalior, Nov 15, 2007 scorecard
Twenty20 debut	Glamorgan v Somerset at Cardiff, Jun 22, 2005 scorecard
Last Twenty20	Bengal v Mumbai at Ahmedabad, Apr 19, 2007 scorecard

Profile

Some felt he couldn't play the bouncer, others swore that he was God on the off-side; some laughed at his lack of athleticism, others took immense pride in his ability to galvanise a side. Sourav Ganguly's ability to polarise opinion led to one of the most fascinating dramas in Indian cricket. Yet, nobody can dispute that he was India's most successful Test captain - forging a winning unit from a bunch of talented, but directionless, individuals - and nobody can argue about him being one of the greatest one-day batsmen of all time. Despite being a batsman who combined grace with surgical precision in his strokeplay, his career had spluttered to a standstill before being resurrected by a scintillating hundred on debut at Lord's in 1996. Later that year, he was promoted to the top of the order in ODIs and, along with Sachin Tendulkar, formed one of the most destructive opening pairs in history.

When he took over the captaincy after the match-fixing exposes in 2000, he quickly proved to be a tough, intuitive and uncompromising leader. Under his stewardship India started winning Test matches away, and put together a splendid streak that took them all the way to the World Cup final in 2003. Later that year, in Australia, an unexpected and incandescent hundred at Brisbane set the tone for the series - Steve Waugh's last - where India fought the world's best team to a standstill. Victory in Pakistan turned him into a cult figure but instead of being a springboard for greater things, it was the peak of a slippery slope.

The beginning of the end came in 2004 at Nagpur - when his last-minute withdrawal played a part in Australia clinching the series - and things went pear shaped when his loss of personal form coincided with India's insipid ODI performances. Breaking point was reached when his differences with Greg Chappell leaked into public domain and his career was in jeopardy when India began their remarkable revival under Rahul Dravid. His gritty 30s at Karachi, when India succumbed to a humiliating defeat in early 2006, weren't enough for him to retain his spot and some felt he would never get another chance. Others, as always, thought otherwise and they were proved right when he was included in the Test squad for the away series in South Africa in 2006-2007. He ended as the highest Indian run-scorer in that series and capped his fairytale comeback with four half-centuries on his return to ODIs. He managed two fifties in three World Cup games, in what was a forgettable campaign for India, and was rested for the folowing tour to Bangladesh.
Siddhartha Vaidyanathan May 2007