Sourav Ganguly and MS Dhoni are two of the finest captains India have ever produced. Since the new millennium, both Dhoni and Ganguly as captains have played a defining role in taking Indian cricket forward.
Ganguly changed the complete mindset of Team India and built a core group that played for many years. He may not have won several ICC trophies but his contribution to Indian cricket can never be overlooked.
MS Dhoni, on the other hand, had the ‘Midas touch’ as skipper that led India to several wins in major ICC events. Recently a lot has been said surrounding, who was the better captain between the two. Some say Dhoni as he won every ICC trophy whereas others believe that Ganguly built a team for Dhoni during his tenure to produce results.
Kumar Sangakkara and Graeme Smith are other additions to this much-talked-about debate. The former South African skipper Smith believes that if Sourav Ganguly had a player like MS Dhoni, he would have won more championships. Ganguly captained India during a time where Australian cricket was at their peak that didn’t allow many teams to win matches.
Ganguly built the legacy for Dhoni – Sangakkara
“The biggest difference between Dada’s captaincy and MS’s captaincy is MS, the player for me. I think in that middle order, the ability to close games, win games, finish games in that calm that he brought to the people around him. I think for me, that is probably the biggest difference between the two heroes, is MS Dhoni”, Smith said on Star Sports’ Cricket Connected Show.
On the other hand, Kumar Sangakkara admitted that captain Ganguly left behind a great legacy for MS Dhoni with which he profited. According to him, both were exceptional leaders that took India cricket to great heights. But no one can deny the fact that it was Ganguly who laid the foundation for MS Dhoni.
He said, “If Dada had an MS type player, his team was slightly more developed, I think you would have seen him win plenty more trophies. Dada was blessed to play or not blessed to play in an era where Australian cricket was at the forefront and dominating the world game as well which at the time the team had won the most during that period”, he added.
“You can be judged on a lot of things but sometimes you have to leave something behind and I think in that sense, Dada did a lot to create a wonderful legacy for others to inherit and MS benefitted from that. MS, exceptional player, unbelievable captain, again, has moved Indian cricket forward. But the foundation for all of that was laid by Dada for me,” said Sangakkara.
