Page 236 - IPL1

S

ourav Ganguly’s comeback as a world-class batsman
was one of the cricket stories of 2007. After many believed his
international career was over, Ganguly returned and scored
1,106 runs at an average of 61.44 in Test cricket as well as 1,240
runs in one-day internationals at 44.28. He also made the first
Test double-century of his career, a scintillating 239 against
Pakistan in Bangalore.

Ganguly was left out of the one-day team for the Commonwealth
Bank Series in Australia at the start of 2008 and India went on to
win the tournament. So it might be the dynamic left-hander’s
future lies as a Test match performer and, on recent form, it
could be a lengthy future.

Ganguly has been a superb batsman and one of the few to
average above 40 in both Test and one-day cricket. He made a
single one-day international appearance in 1992, scored just
three, and did not re-appear for India until his Test debut against
England at Lord’s in 1995. He made a century and then repeated
the feat in the next Test at Trent Bridge. He was off and running.

Ganguly’s total of 22 ODI centuries puts him high on the all-time
list for batsmen from any country. He opened the innings with
Sachin Tendulkar for many years and the pair have put on 26
century partnerships for the first wicket alone – a figure that
other nations can only dream about. Throughout Ganguly’s
career, there have been mutterings about his vulnerability
to the short ball and sniggers about his lack of athleticism in
the field. But nobody has ever criticised his play throughout
the offside. The left-handed Ganguly’s cover drive is a stroke
of majesty and power. His long-time team-mate, Rahul Dravid,
once commented: “On the off-side, first there is God, then there
is Ganguly.” He also loves to hoist bowlers over the boundary CAPTAIN
at long-on and gets surprising elevation for a man of such an Ganguly
apparently unimposing build.

And yet, for all his feats with the bat, it is as a captain that Sourav
Ganguly has made the greatest impact. To the annoyance of
some of his opposite numbers, notably Australia’s Steve Waugh,
nobody pushed India around when Sourav Ganguly was in
charge. He was an uncompromising and controversial leader