Sourav Ganguly opens up on philosophy that led to successful stint as India captain

Former Indian cricket captain Sourav Ganguly turned 48 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.

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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 the game in the country. Under Sourav Ganguly, India became a force to be reckoned with and started winning overseas.

Sourav Ganguly birthday: BCCI President opens up on his successful captaincy stint

Sourav Ganguly, who was present on a talk show Breakfast with Champions, opened up on the philosophy that led to his successful stint as India captain. The host told Sourav Ganguly that once Ashish Nehra had told him that Ganguly had chosen his players. To which Sourav Ganguly said that whenever he used to select players, he used to see which player had the capability to win the match for the team.

Sourav Ganguly added that the likes of Zaheer Khan, Yuvraj Singh, Harbhajan Singh, Ashish Nehra were extremely talented. The BCCI President further said that he wanted players who could win the match and not believe much in draws. He opined that if the team was playing good, he wanted them to win. Sourav Ganguly reckoned that when they play overseas, the opponent's batsmen are going to score runs, bowlers are going to take wickets. So, the Indian team should also be capable of doing the same. He mentioned that when they are holding the upper hand, they should win because, on their bad day, the opponent would definitely beat them.

On the same show, Ganguly also extensively talked about maximising MS Dhoni's potential back in 2005, claiming that he took a calculated risk of allowing him to bat No.3 in the now famous Vizag ODI, a move which proved to be a masterstroke as the wicketkeeper-batsman scored 148 in the match. Ganguly believes that it is only when a leader tests a player to take up challenges initially in their careers that they can see what they are made out of and grow them eventually as one can't grow with lesser opportunities. 

(VIDEO CREDIT: Oaktree Sports)

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Sourav Ganguly birthday: BCCI President reveals his favourite batting performance of all-time

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. The unique fact about these Sourav Ganguly stats is that India never lost a game when Ganguly scored a ton. Sourav Ganguly was present on a talk show Breakfast with Champions where he was asked about his own favourite batting performance for India.

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Sourav Ganguly picked his maiden Test ton on debut at Lord's in 1996 as his favourite performance of his. It was in the same match that Rahul Dravid also made his debut and scored 95 as well. Ganguly said that his century was extremely important for him because it made him believe that he can play at the top level and also assured him that he deserved to be there. Sourav Ganguly further said that there are so many critics out there who are ready to criticize you since cricket is a huge game. He added that his first ton sent a message to all those critics that he is not out of place entirely.

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 ODIs 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: YOUTUBE/ OAKTREE SPORTS