Sourav Ganguly: Legend forever

23rd December 2004: A youngster got run out for a duck against Bangladesh on his debut. He did not have a good series. But the captain kept faith in him and kept him for the next series. In his fifth match, the second of the Pakistan series, he recorded the 3rd highest individual score by an Indian wicket-keeper batsman. The captain’s prayers were answered and he found yet another superstar – another feather in the cap as captain.

As for the captain, he was dropped from the national team after his debut ODI game and was classified as an arrogant youngster from Bengal. Yes, he was from Bengal, another reason why he was not allowed to showcase his talents. His Test debut happened because another player couldn’t make it. However, he became the third batsman in cricketing history to score back-to-back centuries in his first two innings.

A few years later, due to the match-fixing scandal and his poor health, the captain of the team resigned. Thus started the era of Sourav Ganguly, who took over a battered and beaten down team. The wicketkeeper in question earlier, was MS Dhoni. Ganguly’s credited with many such bold decisions, where he held his own and gave opportunity to youngsters in the team like Dhoni, Zaheer and Nehra.

Then came Rahul Dravid and Greg Chappell, who tried to bring about a change in the team. They combined to give the team some huge wins. But eventually, the 2003 runners-up were knocked out of the 2007 World Cup in the first round. Greg Chappell took it upon himself to remove Ganguly based on his performance and age, but he made a stunning comeback. It was overall a bad phase for Indian cricket which fans would no doubt, want to forget.

Then, MS Dhoni took over and brought about a revolution in Indian cricket. With an attacking game and a cool head, he got into action and washed off whatever bad influences Greg Chappell had left behind. He took the team to unimaginable heights when he won the T20 World Cup. He then took the Indian team to the top of the Test rankings and even gifted us the 2011 World Cup.

After being snubbed in the IPL auctions, Sourav Ganguly was asked in a Bengali show hosted by him about his participation in IPL. He promised a comeback, and he did indeed. He played just four matches for Pune under Yuvraj Singh; he made his mark even though the team finished second from the bottom.

After being named captain in the following season, he defended low scores. His performances as a player weren’t great but his captaincy was top class.

If you want to see an example of determination, Ganguly is the man to look to. He got players like Dinda and Kartik into the team – who were snubbed by the Knight Riders – and Ashish Nehra together to show the world what aggression can do to a team.

Who would have thought a youngster from Bengal would one day go to such heights as to make Steve Waugh wait for him at a toss and return Andrew Flintoff’s favour at the Lord’s?

MS Dhoni may have brought India many records, but Ganguly will always be the real hero and creator of Team India.