Sourav Ganguly birthday: Relive MS Dhoni's tribute in his last Test match; watch video

Former cricketer Sourav Ganguly is widely regarded as one of the greatest Indian captains of all time. Having made his international debut in January 1992 against West Indies, he was appointed as the Indian captain in 2000 and he remained attached to the role till 2005. The veteran batsman retired from international cricket with a Test match against Australia at Nagpur in November 2008.

The then Indian skipper MS Dhoni famously assigned the captaincy reign to the outgoing legend during the final moments of his illustrious career. To commemorate the occasion of Sourav Ganguly birthday, here is a look at the special tribute bestowed upon him by another legendary captain MS Dhoni back in 2008.

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Sourav Ganguly birthday: A touching tribute by MS Dhoni for outgoing former skipper

India hosted Australia in the fourth and final Test match of the 2008 Border-Gavaskar Trophy series at Nagpur. The match was also Sourav Ganguly’s final appearance for Team India, with his former teammate Anil Kumble announcing his own retirement earlier that same week in Delhi. During the final stages of the Nagpur Test, India’s newly appointed Test captain MS Dhoni offered Ganguly a chance to lead his national side again after having a friendly chat with him on the field.

While the 113-Test veteran seemed hesitant at first, he accepted the offer and took Indian fans on a nostalgic route for 2 overs with his aggressive field placements and rotation of the bowlers. India eventually won the match by 172 runs to give Sourav Ganguly a fitting farewell. A few years later, the former captain chronicled the events of his final Test in his book ‘A Century is Not Enough’. He wrote that MS Dhoni approached him and offered him captaincy earlier on that day as well. He revealed that he rejected the offer at first but he could not refuse MS Dhoni when the wicketkeeper approached him the second time later that same day.

Sourav Ganguly birthday: Cricketer’s outgoing captaincy stint, watch video

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Sourav Ganguly stats and BCCI Presidency

Since his ODI debut in 1992, Sourav Ganguly went on to enjoy a glorious 16-year journey with Indian cricket. In all, he played 113 Tests and 311 ODIs for the country. The Sourav Ganguly stats section composes of 7,212 Test runs and 11,363 ODIs runs before he announced his retirement in 2008. He scored 38 centuries across all formats and is sixth on the list of all-time international century-makers by Indians.

Interestingly, India never lost a Test match whenever Ganguly scored a Test hundred. Coming to Sourav Ganguly stats in terms of captaincy, India won 21 Tests in 49 matches between 2000 and 2005. In ODIs, he led the ‘Men in Blue’ in 146 matches to register 76 wins.

Even after retirement, Sourav Ganguly has been in continuous association with the game, albeit as a cricket administrator. He is currently serving as the President of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) after he was appointed to the role in October 2019. Previously, Sourav Ganguly was the President of the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) between 2015 and 2019.

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Image credit: Screenshot from Subu Sastry Twitter