Sourav Ganguly celebrates his 48th birthday today. We take a look at some of the top Sourav Ganguly moments where he proved to be one of the best decision-makers as a Captain of the Indian cricket team.
The reason why the Indian cricket team is so appreciated and loved is because of the number of amazing leaders who have led the team in the most efficient way. It definitely took great captaincy to make the team into what it is today. Among the list of such captaincies, the current BCCI president Sourav Ganguly's captaincy was the one that managed to lift the team when it was going through a rough phase. Leading India the left-hander from Kolkata captained the team in 49 Test matches and won 21 matches. Becoming the captain in the 2000s Sourav, fondly known as Dada, made it happen for the Indian team to win test matches which were quite rare at the time. From taking his shirt off to celebrate the victory to him taking risks as a captain, there have been a number of Sourav Ganguly moments that we love.
Take a look at these top Sourav Ganguly moments as Captain:
Sourav Ganguly made his Test debut against England at Lord's in 1996 and became the first Indian and only the third cricketer in the world to score a hundred on debut at Lord's.
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In the famous 2001 Kolkata Test against Australia Ganguly shocked everyone yet again with his decision. He replaced Rahul Dravid with VVS Laxman at No 3 position. VVS Laxman scored 281* in the same match adding to India's victory.
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Virender Sehwag had never opened an innings before. It was Ganguly who made Sehwag open the innings. He had made his debut against South Africa as a middle-order batsman and scored 105.
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Despite it being a green pitch on a cloudy day in Headingley, which is a good condition for the blowers, Ganguly won the toss and elected to bat. India won the match by an innings and 46 runs.
Although the selectors preferred Murali Kartik, Ganguly insisted on picking Anil Kumble for the 2004 tour of Australia. Kumble went on to become the highest Indian wicket-taker of the series.
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India fit in an extra batsman for the World Cup 2003. Thanks to Ganguly's decision to make Rahul Dravid keep wickets in ODIs.
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Happy birthday, Dada!