Sourav Ganguly is an absolute cricketing legend. He was the reason behind Indian cricket’s renovation after facing a lot of controversies. Ganguly completely transformed the Indian team, under him, the team became a dominant Test-playing nation. India became a reckoning force at home and had full potential to defeat the toughest opposition in away matches.
Ganguly created a legacy in cricket that is impossible to recreate. Dada performed for the team whenever he was needed to, Also before becoming the skipper he established himself as a sensational batsman. The current BCCI president is also known for backing youngsters like Harbhajan Singh, Yuvraj Singh, and Zaheer Khan. Also, Ganguly was responsible for recommending Ms. Dhoni as a new captain of the side. MS Dhoni won the big ICC tournaments with several players who were backed by Prince of Kolkata Sourav Ganguly.
On Sourav Ganguly’s 49th birthday let’s have a look at his top 3 innings in international cricket:
June 22, 1996 Tests | 131 vs England, Lord’s
The southpaw Ganguly made his presence felt in international cricket in his Test debut at Home of cricket ‘ Lord’s cricket ground’. Dada scored a fantabulous century batting at the number 3 spot in India’s first innings.
This match saw debut of two of the greatest batsmen of India; Rahul Dravid and Sourav Ganguly. Both the debutants impressed the world after a remarkable knock against the English bowling unit comprising Chris Lewis, Dominic Cork, Allan Mullally, and Peter Martin.
The former Indian captain scored 131 runs in that match facing 301 balls. Ganguly’s innings were filled with 20 fours. Ganguly’s master class of 131 and Dravid’s 95 runs were unable to help India win the match. The match, in the end, resulted in a draw but Sourav Ganguly got his name on Lords honor board on his Test debut.
ICC Knockout 2000 final, October 15 | 117 vs New Zealand, Nairobi
Sourav Ganguly successfully managed his side to get into the finals of ICC KnockOut at Nairobi (Gym) on Oct 15, 2000. It was his responsibility to give all he has got and help India win the championship. Sourav managed to the first thing but was unable to achieve the second one.
Ganguly scored a brilliant century, scoring 117 runs off 130 balls including 9 fours and 4 maximums. His opening partner Sachin Tendulkar scored 69 runs too. With the help of these two brilliant innings, India reached 264/6 in their 50 overs.
However, India was looking ahead in the match when New Zealand was in trouble at 132/5 in the 24th over. Meanwhile, things changed very quickly against Sourav Ganguly and company. Chris Cairns and Chris Harris have a 122-run partnership for the 6th wicket.
This brought Kiwis back in the game pretty soon. Cairns won the match for Blackcaps scoring 102* runs and demolishing Ganguly’s hope of winning the tournament.
ICC Cricket World Cup 1999, May 26 | 183 vs Sri Lanka, Taunton
The 21st match of ICC World Cup 1999 saw an extraordinary partnership between two G.O.A.T. batsmen. The cricketers who made a Test debut together were seeing playing their knock of the lifetime. Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid scored centuries and had a 318-run partnership for the second wicket, the 318 runs between Ganguly and Dravid at a point in time was the record of highest partnership in the history of ODI cricket.
Ganguly got out at the score of 183 by Wickramasinghe. Sourav managed to score his 183 runs from 158 balls including 17 fours and 7 sixes. He batted in the innings with a strike rate of 115.82. India registered a huge total of 373 runs which was a mountain for the Sri Lankan batting unit.
In the end, Sri Lanka was bowled out at 216 and India won the match by 157. Also, Dada “Sourav Ganguly” was awarded Player Of The Match.
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