Ganguly

Sourav Ganguly -- India

Player profile

Full name Sourav Chandidas Ganguly

Born July 8, 1972, Calcutta (now Kolkata), Bengal


Current age 35 years 283 days

Major teams India, Asia XI, Bengal, Glamorgan, Kolkata Knight Riders, 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	St
Tests	106	174	15	6792	239	42.71	13184	51.51	15	34	862	53	69	0
ODIs	311	300	23	11363	183	41.02	15416	73.70	22	72	1122	190	100	0
First-class	233	366	41	14424	239	44.38			30	83			163	0
List A	423	407	42	15161	183	41.53			31	93			130	0
Twenty20	18	17	1	377	73	23.56	350	107.71	0	1	47	9	6	0

Bowling averages

	Mat	Inns	Balls	Runs	Wkts	BBI	BBM	Ave	Econ	SR	4w	5w	10
Tests	106	96	3050	1642	32	3/28	3/37	51.31	3.23	95.3	0	0	0
ODIs	311	171	4561	3849	100	5/16	5/16	38.49	5.06	45.6	1	2	0
First-class	233		10841	5965	164	6/46		36.37	3.30	66.1		4	0
List A	423		7949	6454	168	5/16	5/16	38.41	4.87	47.3	4	2	0
Twenty20	18	17	297	393	19	3/27	3/27	20.68	7.93	15.6	0	0	0

Career statistics

Test debut	England v India at Lord's, Jun 20-24, 1996 scorecard
Last Test	India v South Africa at Kanpur, Apr 11-13, 2008 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 South Africa at Kanpur, Apr 11-13, 2008 scorecard
List A debut	1989/90
Last List A	East Zone v West Zone at Hyderabad (Decc), Mar 17, 2008 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 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 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.