Happy Birthday Sourav Ganguly: Legendary India captain turns 50

Sourav Ganguly made his debut for India back in 1992 and he played until 2008. He is regarded as one of the greatest captains India have ever produced.

Legendary Indian skipper Sourav Ganguly, on Friday, July 8, turned 50 years old. Dada, as Ganguly is popularly known, is currently the president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). He took charge at the helm back in 2019 and has worked brilliantly for the well-being of Indian cricket.

Prior to that, he served India for as long as 15 years after making his debut back in January 1992 against the West Indies in Brisbane. Ganguly’s career took off in 1996 when he scored a sparkling century versus England at the iconic Lord’s Cricket Ground. From there on, he didn’t look back.

In 2021, he guided India to a stupendous 2-1 victory in the home Test series against Steve Waugh’s Australia, who were near-invincible back then. Thereafter, he captained India to the final of the 2003 World Cup, where the Men in Blue lost to the Aussies at the Wanderers Stadium in Johannesburg.

Ganguly was dropped from the Indian team for certain reasons but went on to make a comeback. In November 2008, the Bengal-born Ganguly donned the national colours for the last time in a Test match against the Aussies in Nagpur.

In 113 Tests and 311 ODIs, the Prince of Kolkata racked up 7212 and 11363 runs with the help of 38 centuries and 107 half-centuries. Ganguly was no mug with the ball either. He picked up 132 wickets for India at the highest level, including one four-wicket haul and two five-wicket hauls.

Ganguly also plied his trade in the Indian Premier League (IPL). After playing for the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), he represented the now-defunct Pune Warriors. Under his leadership, India scaled a lot of heights.