The one who breathed new life into Team India, hit back when time hit

Sourav Ganguly Career: There are many ups and downs in a player's career. Sometimes he is in good form, then his name resonates in the world, if not, then he is on the marks of critics. Controversies also go on with the player. In these ups and downs, many players get lost, while many shine and become examples. There was one person in Indian cricket in whose career everything happened. He was also dropped from the team, returned and became the captain, changed the picture of the team, then got embroiled in controversies, went out, then returned and got his iron convinced. This player is none other than Sourav Ganguly, the captain who changed the picture of Indian cricket. Today is the birthday of Ganguly of West Bengal, popularly known as Dada. He was born on 8 July 1972.

The support & love keeps us going. Few more hours to go ... pic.twitter.com/8erK12kK0a

— Sourav Ganguly (@SGanguly99) July 7, 2023

Ganguly is counted among the most successful captains in the world. He is said to be the captain who breathed new life into Team India and made it a team capable of winning overseas. Ganguly did this work when Indian cricket was going through a very difficult phase. After retiring from cricket, Ganguly became the BCCI President. Ganguly served Indian cricket both as a player and as an administrator.

Out after one match

Ganguly played his first match for Team India on 11 January 1992 as an ODI match against the West Indies. Ganguly was dropped from the team for four years after scoring three runs in this match. He returned to the ODI team in 1996 and scored 46 against England on 26 May 1996. But Ganguly made headlines with his Test debut. Ganguly made his Test debut against England in Lord's, called the Mecca of cricket, and scored a century in his very first Test. Ganguly played an inning of 131 runs in this match. From here Ganguly did not look back again.

Ganguly became the lifeblood of Team India's batting order in ODIs and Tests from here. His opening pair with Sachin Tendulkar was such a hit that the front teams started trembling. Even today this pair is counted among the best opening pairs. Ganguly showed a great game in the 1999 World Cup and told what level of batsman he is.

Captaincy handled in difficult situation

There was an earthquake in Indian cricket in 1999-2000. The then captain of the Indian team, Mohammad Azharuddin, got caught in match-fixing. Along with this, the names of players like Ajay Jadeja and Manoj Prabhakar also came in it. These stains were tarnishing the image of Indian cricket. Where Indian cricket was facing notoriety outside the field, inside the field there was a crisis on the team as to how to deal with it and more than that who should be made the captain in place of Azhar. In such a difficult time, Ganguly got the captaincy invitation which he accepted and then the new history of Indian cricket started. New Team India.

Under Ganguly's captaincy, aggressiveness, belligerence, stubbornness not to give up, the urge to fight till the end started showing in Team India. Team India's game started showing that this is a new team which is not easy to beat. The biggest example of this was the Test match played between India and Australia at the Eden Gardens Stadium in Kolkata in 2001, in which India, even after playing the follow-on, defeated a strong team like Australia, making a strong comeback after trailing. Ganguly had changed the face of Team India.

New plant ready

The leader is the one who prepares the players for the future. Ganguly gave a chance to many new players under his captaincy. He was a strong supporter of including youth in the team. He also gave a lot of opportunities to the youth. In Ganguly's era, players like Virender Sehwag, Yuvraj Singh, Mohammad Kaif, Zaheer Khan, Ashish Nehra, Harbhajan Singh flourished and the world saw the result. India entered the final of the ODI World Cup for the first time in 2003 after 1983. Although Australia defeated India in the final played in Johannesburg, South Africa, but this was the beginning of a new era of Team India. Going forward, Yuvraj, Sehwag, Zaheer, Nehra, Harbhajan made India the world champion in 2007 and 2011.

This work was also done under the captaincy of that player whom Ganguly brought and prepared. That name is Mahendra Singh Dhoni. Under Dhoni's captaincy, India won the first T20 World Cup in 2007 and then became the world champion in ODIs in 2011.

Chappell out

But everything was not easy for Ganguly. This captain who changed the picture of Team India had to see bad days as well. Had to leave the team as well. Ganguly played a big role in making Greg Chappell the head coach of Team India after John Wright resigned as the head coach, but Ganguly was stripped of the captaincy while Chappell was the coach and he was dropped from Team India. Chappell replaced Rahul Dravid. Was made the captain and during this Ganguly went out. He was dropped from the Test team in January 2006, but returned to the team on the tour of South Africa in December this year and this player scored a half-century in the first innings.

Ganguly again played till 2008 and in the Nagpur Test against Australia, Ganguly, known as Bengal Tiger, said goodbye to cricket. The left-handed batsman scored 7212 runs in 113 Tests for India at an average of 42.17, including 16 centuries and 35 half-centuries. In ODIs, he played 311 T20 matches for India and scored 11,363 runs at an average of 41.02. In ODIs, 22 centuries and 72 half-centuries came out of his bat. Ganguly was also a good bowler. He took a total of 32 wickets in Tests and 100 wickets in ODIs.

Became the boss of bcci

After retirement, Ganguly played IPL but was not much successful. He also tried his hand at commentary. After the death of Jagmohan Dalmiya, he was elected the President of Bengal Cricket Association and from here his innings of cricket administrator started anew. In 2019, he also became the President of BCCI. He was the first cricketer to hold this position. In October 2019, he was elected the BCCI President and held the post for the next three years. Now Ganguly is working as a mentor with the IPL team Delhi Capitals.