Sourav Ganguly: A hero of New India

ALL’S WELL THAT ENDS WELL: Sourav Ganguly, whose career ended on a high after India’s series win against Australia, is carried by teammates after the end of the fourth Test.

The present age cricket lovers may look at him as a legend. Sourav Ganguly, spent a lifetime in achieving that status, transforming the attitude of the Indians towards the game.

He created a bunch of self-believers which set about to tame the cricket world. Befittingly, his journey has ended on a glowing note, with a series win at home against world champion Australia.
Colourful career

Ganguly’s was a most colourful career. When he walked into the Eden Gardens as a teenager, his influential father was credited with the selection, though he had won his place on merit.

When he was picked for India, it was said the ‘quota’ system worked in his favour. The critics did not realise that he had earned his place again on merit.

He shut them up with a century on Test debut at Lord’s in 1996. A fascinating career was launched at the home of cricket and Ganguly’s love with the game blossomed as he took gigantic strides, culminating in 7212 Test runs (16 centuries and an average of 42.17) and 11363 in ODIs (22 centuries, average of 41.02).

He tormented bowlers with his languid style, scaled new peaks and set new benchmarks. He was destiny’s gift to Indian cricket.
Source: http://www.hindu.com/

Cricket Prince of Kolkata bids adieu to Cricket

Zeenews Bureau

Nagpur, Nov 10: A glorious career comes to an end on Monday… Sourav Ganguly, a man with a never-say-die spirit, will be seen on the field wearing the Indian cap for the last time today. Known as the best ever captain to have represented India, the Royal Bengal Tiger will bid his adieu to cricket today and will be remembered as a man who had a career as dramatic as it can be.

The Prince of Kolkata went out for a duck in the last innings of his career’s final Test match at Nagpur against Australia, thanks to Jason Krejza’s spin spell.

Sourav Ganguly has had a career of that of a hero. The day when Dada announced his retirement to the world, it seemed to be the end of an era for many.

He made his debut in the year of 1989, but subsequently dropped from the side because he allegedly refused to carry drinks to the ground. And for most of the people it seemed end of his career.

In 1996, the tour of England marked his comeback to international, the reason being him being in ‘good-terms’ with Jagmohan Dalmiya. Most of the people thought Sourav did not deserve to be in the side. But in his very first match of the tour he proved everyone wrong by scoring a century and Lords witnessed birth of another Indian batting icon…

An excellent player of spin, Sourav tried to play a sweep shot off Brad Hogg, on his Test debut, and was caught at slip. But what followed was a success story for every one to remember.

Ganguly made his mark on both ODIs and Test matches but as his career progressed he became a better player of ODIs than Tests. Along came the Sahara Cup 1997, the second bilateral series between India and Pakistan in Toronto, Canada. Ganguly who was known for his batting only, not only scored runs in that series but also picked up 16 wickets and became Man of the Series taking everyone by surprise.
Source: http://www.zeenews.com/