A day after MS Dhoni’s fortieth birthday, one other certainly one of India’s best cricket captains – Sourav Ganguly – celebrates his forty ninth on Thursday (July 8). Former India skipper Ganguly is now the president of Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), fulfilling his function as a cricket administrator with aplomb for the final one yr now. The Bengal southpaw is credited for turning the fortunes of Indian cricket workforce round after the 2000 match-fixing controversy.
Ganguly turned India right into a aspect of match-winners, taking part in a serious function within the emergence of expertise like Virender Sehwag, Zaheer Khan, Yuvraj Singh, Harbhajan Singh and Irfan Pathan aside from senior palms like Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman.
Here we have a look at among the most defining moments of Ganguly the skipper on his forty ninth birthday.
2002 NatWest Trophy triumph
The win within the Natwest Trophy tri-series was one of the vital memorable in Indian cricket historical past. India opened the collection with a giant win over hosts England, chasing down 272 with ease to win by six wickets. Ganguly’s aspect had a snug path to the ultimate, dominating each England and Sri Lanka.
However, within the remaining, England posted a large 325 batting first with skipper Nasser Hussain and opener Marcus Trescothick posting centuries. Ganguly gave the aspect a whirlwind begin, scoring a fifth earlier than India slipped from 106/0 to 146/5 and all hope appeared misplaced. But younger weapons Yuvraj Singh and Mohammad Kaif placed on 121 runs for the sixth wicket and the ultimate two-wicket win within the final over prompted Ganguly to take off his shirt on the Lord’s balcony in celebration.
2002 Champions Trophy joint-champions
A few months after the Natwest triumph, Ganguly’s Men-in-Blue headed to Sri Lanka to play within the ICC Champions Trophy. In 2000, below Ganguly, the workforce had come near successful its maiden Champions Trophy, solely to lose to New Zealand within the remaining.
India beat Zimbabwe by 14 runs, England by 8 wickets and South Africa by 10 runs within the semi-final to enter the ultimate. However, the ultimate ended up being a moist squib. With Sri Lanka taking part in out their 50-overs, the primary remaining was rescheduled as a consequence of rain to happen on the reserve day. Even the reserve day was washed out, making India and Sri Lanka the joint winners.
Drawing the 2003/04 Test collection in Australia
After the disastrous tour of 1999 the place India have been whitewashed 0-3 within the Test collection and had misplaced 13 of the 14 matches within the tri-series, Ganguly led the workforce Down Under. Led by Ganguly’s gorgeous hundred within the opening Test on the Gabba, {followed} by Rahul Dravid’s double century and VVS Laxman’s century in Adelaide, India sensationally managed to attract the 2003-04 Border-Gavaskar Trophy 1-1, which was additionally the final worldwide task of Ganguly’s counterpart Steve Waugh. Ganguly led from the entrance, scoring an excellent 141.
2-1 collection win over Australia in 2001
The collection win below Ganguly is taken into account one of many most interesting within the historical past of Test cricket. India managed to halt Steve Waugh’s Australians on the ‘final frontier’ after they’d gained 16 Tests in a row, together with the primary certainly one of this collection in Mumbai by 10 wickets. In the well-known second Test in Kolkata, India followed-on after Australia posted 445 within the first innings – regardless of Harbhajan Singh’s hat-trick as the hosts have been bundled out for 171.
The collection appeared misplaced however Ganguly determined to ship VVS Laxman to bat No. 3 place within the second innings with Hyderabadi maestro developing with 281. Laxman mixed with Dravid’s 180 carried India to 657/7 within the second innings. Harbhajan picked one other five-wicket haul within the second innings as India gained the second Test by 171 runs after following-on.
Ganguly’s aspect carried on the momentum into the third Test in Chennai, which they managed to win by two wickets to seal an unbelievable come from behind collection win.
World Cup finalists in 2003
The World Cup 2003 was the end result of three years of laborious work for Ganguly. India entered the World Cup with a poor collection in New Zealand and started with a large loss by the hands of defending champions Australia early within the event.
Ashish Nehra’s career-best 6/23 derailed England earlier than the high-voltage India-Pakistan fixture noticed Sachin Tendulkar play certainly one of ODI cricket’s most interesting knocks as India took their document to 4-0 over their Asian neighbours. In the Super Sixes, India hardly broke a sweat towards Kenya or Sri Lanka, and despite the fact that New Zealand threatened them, Ganguly’s males clipped the Kiwi wings and progressed into the semi-final, the place they thrashed Kenya by 91 runs.
Ricky Ponting, nevertheless, upset Ganguly’s boys within the remaining, smashing an excellent hundred as Australia posted a large 359 after batting first. India went on to lose by 125 runs however emerged out of the event with their heads held excessive.
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