Cricket Career (Sourav Ganguly)

Wisden 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.

Victory in Pakistan - India's first away from home in 11 years - made Sourav Ganguly India's most successful Test captain ever, completing a remarkable turnaround for a man who was summarily jettisoned after playing only a bit-part role on his first tour of Australia in 1991-92. And it was in Australia that his leadership scaled new heights a dozen years later, as a brilliant century in the opening Test at Brisbane set the tone for a series - Steve Waugh's last - where India fought the world's best team to a standstill. Ganguly combines amazing grace and surgical precision in his stroke play, especially on the off side, but his career had spluttered to a standstill before being resurrected by a scintillating hundred on debut at Lord's in 1996. When he took over the captaincy after the match-fixing exposes in 2000, he quickly proved to be a tough, intuitive and uncompromising leader, traits best illustrated in the historic series against Australia in 2001, when he made light of personal travails to lead India to a famous victory.

Under his stewardship, with John Wright providing inputs off the field, India started winning Test matches away, and put together a splendid eight-match winning streak that took them all the way to the World Cup final in 2003. Despite having been his team's most consistent one-day batsmen over the previous three seasons, he also relinquished the opening slot to accommodate Virender Sehwag and Sachin Tendulkar, and several gutsy efforts in Test cricket were none-too-subtle reminders to critics who insisted that he was deeply vulnerable against the short ball. Effective with his medium-pace on seaming tracks, Ganguly will most be remembered though for having forged a winning unit from a bunch of talented, but directionless, individuals.

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 continued his fine run in England, where he finished as the second highest scorer in Tests, and went on to slam back-to-back hundreds against Pakistan at home, the second of which was a glorious 239 in Bangalore. Ganguly was surprisingly omitted from India's ODI squad for the CB Series in Australia and has been out of contention in the one-day squad since. After a poor Test series in Sri Lanka, there were reports of him considering retirement but he was given a lifeline in the Tests against Australia at home. Two days before the first Test, he said the series would be his last.

- By Dileep Premachandran of Wisden Cricinfo

Overall Career Statistics

Batting and Fielding  (1996-2008)

class	mat	inns	no	runs	hs	ave	bf	sr	100	50	4s	6s	ct
Tests	113	188	17	7212	239	42.17	14070	51.25	16	35	900	57	71
ODIs	311	300	23	11363	183	41.02	15416	73.70	22	72	1122	190	100
First-class	237	374	41	14540	200*	43.66			30	83			165
List A	423	407	42	15161	183	41.53			31	93			130
Twenty-20	31	30	2	761	91	25.92	657	110.50	0	4	80	24	11

Bowling  (1996-2008)   

class	mat	balls	runs	wkts	bbi	bbm	ave	econ	sr	4	5	10
Tests	113	3117	1682	32	3/28	3/37	52.53	3.23	97.4	0	0	0
ODIs	311	4561	3849	100	5/16	5/16	38.49	5.06	45.6	1	2	0
First-class	237	10920	6013	164	6/46		36.66	3.30	66.5		4	0
List A	423	7949	5454	168	5/16	5/16	38.41	4.87	47.3	4	2	0

Twenty-20

31

417

521

25

3/27

3/27

20.84

7.39

16.6

0

0

0

Captaincy (2000-2005)

class	mat	won	lost	drawn/nr	success rate	tosses won	bat (runs)	bat (ave)	100	50
Tests	49	21	13	15	42.86%	21	2561	37.66	5	13
ODIs	147	76	66	5	51.70%	74	5104	38.66	11	30