SOURAV GANGULY

Sourav Ganguly – A tribute

Born into a sports loving family of Chandidas and Nirupa Ganguly,on July 08, 1973 Sourav was nicknamed "Maharaj" or "The Emperor" probably since his parents felt he will be a leader some day. Though Sourav is a natural right hander, he learned to bat with his left hand from his elder brother, Snehashish just because he couldnot find a pair of right handed gloves for himself.

Going against his parents wish to make cricket as his career and with strong support from his elder brother Snehashish, he started the journey by enrolling in a cricket coaching camp during his class 10 holidays and eventually he replaced his elder brother in the bengal cricket team.


Sourav made his international debut in 1992 against west indies, but failed to make an impression. He was not given any further chance and was dropped after this tour. Rumors of his attitude problems and lack of respect for the senior players hurt Sourav the most. After 4 years in oblivion, he was again called back for test series against england in 1996. He made a scintillating test debut with a brilliant 131 at Lords and became a regular member of test and odi side.


He along with his batting peers like Sachin, Dravid started winning matches on a regular basis. Sachin and Sourav started to become the prolific opening duo in odi cricket


The real honour came in 1999 when Sourav became the indian captain in both odi and tests. Under his able leadership India went on to win some memorable matches against opponents like australia, south africa, west indies, england, pakistan, sri lanka to name a few. He became the second indian to play the finals of world cup but couldnot repeat history made in 1983. He earned the name "dada" from his team mates as he was like an elder brother to them


When all seems to go well for team india, his batting form started to slump. India's performance also degraded during the period 2004-2005. Subsequently he lost his captaincy and his place in the team.


He went back to domestic cricket circuit, made some few adjustments in the batting side and came back after one year as a much better batsman and played like he never played before. The first test victory against south africa in their land was much attributed to sourav's gutsy 51*. He made a comeback in odi with a man-of-the-series performance against srilanka and west indies.The indian team failed to perform in world cup 2007 but sourav was one batsman who never let his wicket go without putting up a fight. Post worldcup memories include his brilliant maident test century in his favourite ground eden which has eluded him till date and then followed by a scintillating double century against a charged pakistan attack when india were 60/4 in bangalore.


Sourav reached another milestone by playing his hundredth test against austrlalia in melbourne and was the 4th indian cricketer to do so. He also led the batting line up against a dangerous south african bowling attack on a docile pitch and scored a magnificent 87. Sourav also led the Kolkata Knight Riders franchisee in the inaugural IPL T20 tournament and played some match winning innings with terrific strike rate in batting and bowling when most of the critics ruled him out owing to his growing age and fitness.


Currently out of the indian odi team he is waiting for a recall there and as dada fans we all hope for another miracle to happen. This person has shown us how to fight back against all odds and to held head high when the chins are supposed to be down. On this occasion of the birthday of this man, we salute him for his service to indian society and cricket and wish him success in years to come.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SOURAV "DADA" GANGULY

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SOURAV GANGULY