Why did Sourav Ganguly make Rahul Dravid India's keeper? Answer has Aussie element to it

The Indian cricket team thrived under the leadership of former captain Sourav Ganguly in the early 2000s. The flamboyant left-hander was instrumental in changing the tide of the team during that period with his inspiring approach. The southpaw took a lot of bold decisions that had a major impact on the side's overall performances. The most notable call that the stylish batsman took during his tenure was of utilizing Rahul Dravid as a wicketkeeper from 2002 to 2004. However, it is worth noting that the Australian team had a significant influence in Ganguly selecting the part-time glovesman for the position.

How Sourav Ganguly made the most of his resources for tackling the mighty Aussies 

The Bengal cricket was handed the captaincy reins under dire circumstances. However, despite the daunting task, Ganguly was able to help the Indian team stage a miraculous turnaround. While Dada gave opportunities to a number of young guns like Virender Sehwag, Yuvraj Singh and Zaheer Khan, who later went on to become stalwarts of the game, he also made the existing members of the side. His decision of asking Rahul Dravid to keep wickets proved to be a game-changer that benefitted the overall team combination. 

India's arch-rivals Australia often took the field with a number of all-rounders like Andrew Symonds and Ian Harvey, which gave them an edge. The Sourav Ganguly-led side on the other hand lacked a genuine all-rounder during that era. This is why the Kolkata-born cricket star was forced to think out of the box. Basically, if Rahul Dravid played as the wicketkeeper, then it would allow India to field seven batsmen. Dravid would go on to play 73 ODIs as the wicketkeeper, in which he took 71 catches and stumped the batsmen on 13 occasions. 

Rahul Dravid stats in international cricket 

The Rahul Dravid stats include his 48 international centuries, 36 of which he scored in Tests. Rahul Dravid centuries count also includes his 12 tons in ODIs. Dravid called it quits from international cricket in 2012 after scoring 13,288 runs in 164 Test matches at an average of 52.31 and 10, 889 runs in 344 ODIs at an average of 39.17. He is often hailed as one of the greatest batsmen to have ever played the game by many fans. 

Sourav Ganguly career stats 

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 career 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.

Image source: AP