Sourav Ganguly birthday: Ravi Shastri talks about his contribution to Dada's career

Former India captain Sourav Ganguly celebrated his 48th birthday on Wednesday. Ganguly is one of the most celebrated cricketers in the country. The southpaw brought about a revolution in the Indian team and changed the way the game was played with his aggressive captaincy. Sourav Ganguly also captained India and reorganised the team after the match-fixing scandal in the 2000s and build a fearless brand of Indian cricket which transformed Indian cricket. 

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Sourav Ganguly birthday: Ravi Shastri reveals how a young Ganguly impressed him with his batting

Sourav Ganguly's is adored in the cricketing fraternity and he has a cordial relationship with his colleagues. However, the media has always reported about a rift in the mid-2010s between Sourav Ganguly and India's head coach Ravi Shastri. Shastri was present on a talk show Aap Ki Adalat in 2016 where he dismissed all such claims.

Ravi Shastri said that he is least bothered about the speculations surrounding his relation with Sourav Ganguly. Shastri feels that it’s a chance for the media to dramatize the situation and present it in an eye-catching way to the public. Even Sourav Ganguly had dismissed the rumours of the alleged bad blood between him and Ravi Shastri.

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Ravi Shastri further revealed about his contribution to Ganguly's career. Ravi Shastri said that Sourav Ganguly was his junior. He added when he was playing for West Zone, Sourav Ganguly was playing for East Zone. Ravi Shastri mentioned that he was captaining the corporate team of Tatas and he was so impressed with Sourav Ganguly's batting and his cricketing abilities that he asked the officials at the Tatas to bring him on board with them. Ravi Shastri also pointed out that the BCCI President was still a part of the Tatas' team as of 2016, which also explains why Ganguly continues to endorse properties such as the Tata 25k run in Kolkata every year and brands such as Tata Tea.

However, in recent times, it seems that the duo have patched up as Shastri was full of praise for Ganguly's appointment for Indian cricket's top job in October 2019, calling him a 'natural leader' as per multiple media reports back then.

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Sourav Ganguly stats

In his Test career, if Sourav Ganguly stats are looked upon, he scored 7,212 runs in 113 Tests at an average of 42.2. He also scored 16 centuries and 35 fifties in the process. Sourav Ganguly stats in ODI's are staggering. In ODIs, Ganguly stats read 11,363 runs from 311 ODIs with 22 centuries. Ganguly is still India’s third-highest run and century scorer in ODIs behind Sachin Tendulkar and current captain Virat Kohli.

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IMAGE COURTESY: TRAVI SHASTRI/SOURAV GANGULY INSTAGRAM