Top 4 heartbreaking moments for India under Sourav Ganguly

Top 4 heartbreaking moments for India under Sourav Ganguly
Top 4 heartbreaking moments for India under Sourav Ganguly

At the turn of the century, Indian cricket was in shambles. The match-fixing saga had just rocked the cricketing world, and closer home there were significant ramifications. Mohammed Azharuddin and Ajay Jadeja were ousted from the team, and a certain Sourav Ganguly was made the captain.

Ganguly was left with a humongous task of restoring the pride of Indian cricket and at the same time build a core that would drive Indian cricket forward in the coming decade. Ganguly was a natural leader. He had an astute eye of spotting talent and grooming them into match winners. The likes of Virender Sehwag, Yuvraj Singh, Zaheer Khan, Harbhajan Singh, Ashish Nehra, Gautam Gambhir, and MS Dhoni were introduced into the national team at his behest and the future looked bright.

Under Ganguly, India became a side that could complete overseas. From the period of 2000 to 2005, India won a Test in the West Indies (Port of Spain, 2002), drew with England in 2002 (1-1), retained the Border-Gavaskar Trophy Down Under in 2003-04 (1-1) and won both ODI and Test series in Pakistan after a period of 50 years.

But, things weren't as hunky-dory for Ganguly- the captain, all the time. He had his share of disappointments when the team couldn't perform as per expectations like the drubbing in New Zealand, the group-stage Champions Trophy exit in 2004 among others.

Let's have a look at the top four heartbreaking moments for India under Sourav Ganguly.


#4 ICC Cricket World Cup, Final, 2003

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Glum faces in the Indian camp

India started the 2003 World Cup campaign with a stutter after working hard for victory against the Dutch. The win against the Netherlands was followed with an absolute humbling at the hands of Australia - by 125 runs.

The loss against the World Champions gave a much-needed fillip to Ganguly's side as India proceeded to win nine games on the bounce to set-up the summit clash with the Aussies.

Ganguly won the toss on Finals day, and it turned out to be the only thing that the Indians won that day. Having been put into bat by Ganguly, Australia made their intentions pretty clear with Matthew Hayden and Adam Gilchrist going hammer and tongs in the first 15 overs.

But it was Ricky Ponting who ultimately played an innings that took the game out of the realms of Team India. In a scintillating assault worth 140 runs, Ponting along with Martyn (88) plummeted the bowlers into submission to rack up 359 in 50 overs.

Any hopes of India chasing down the target were squashed in the very first over when Sachin Tendulkar top-edged the ball to Glenn McGrath. Sehwag flattered to deceive with his 81, but it was always going to be a Brobdingnagian ask against the likes of McGrath, Brett Lee, and Bichel as India was eventually bowled out for 234; 125 runs adrift of the target.

The dream of becoming 'World Champions', 20 years after Kapil Dev team's memorable heist was broken, again.

#3 India vs New Zealand, ICC Knockout Final, 2000

New Zealand beat India to win the ICC Knockout 2000
New Zealand beat India to win the ICC Knockout 2000

The ICC Knockout was the first major tournament under the leadership of Ganguly.

The tournament unearthed two of India's future legends - Zaheer Khan and Yuvraj Singh.

Both Yuvraj and Zaheer made substantial contributions as India knocked out World Champions Australia and a pretty strong South African outfit to book their place in the finals alongside New Zealand.

Ganguly led from the front, scoring hundreds in both the semis as well as in the summit clash (117 off 130 balls) against New Zealand, as India racked up 6-264 in 50 overs.

Like with their batting, India started the defense on a good note with Venkatesh Prasad (3-27) nipping out Spearman (3) and skipper Stephen Fleming (5) to leave the Kiwis reeling at 2-37. Things went from bad to worse when Anil Kumble (2-55) and Tendulkar (1-38) accounted for Twose (31) and McMillan for 15, as New Zealand started to star down the barrel at 5-132.

But, Chris Cairns had other ideas. The all-rounder who had already made a mark in the game with a tight spell of 0-40 in 10 overs, paced his innings to perfection; picking out singles and doubles while waiting for the odd bad delivery. Cairns, who was in doubt to play the game due to a dodgy right knee, dramatically turned the screws on India and produced a masterly 113-ball-102 to lead the Kiwis to a title-winning five-wicket heist.

#2 Losing to Australia at home after 35 years (1-2 in 2004)

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The Aussies celebrate with the Border-Gavaskar trophy

The lowest point of Ganguly's stint as the Indian captain. After thumping the Aussies at home in 2001 and playing out a draw (1-1) Down Under in 2003-04, India headed into the 2004 Border-Gavaskar Trophy as favorites. But the first Test set the tone of what would turn out to be a disappointing series for skipper Ganguly and India.

Debutant Michael Clarke scored his maiden hundred; a classy 155 at Bengaluru to set-up a commanding 217-run win in the first Test. India, rode on Anil Kumble's 13-wicket haul and a swashbuckling 155 by opener Virender Sehwag to put the hosts in a commanding position in the second game. But with India needing a further 209 runs to level the series, the rain gods at Chennai did not allow any play on the final day, and Australia escaped with a draw.

The final nail in the coffin though came at Nagpur. Skipper Ganguly had sat out of the Test due to a tussle with the curator regarding the nature of the pitch, and once the Test started, it was pretty evident what was ailing Ganguly. On a green seaming wicket, the Aussie bowlers spearheaded by Jason Gillespie (5-56 & 4-24) wrecked the famed Indian batting line-up to inflict a 342-run humbling of the home side and take an unassailable 2-0 lead in the 4-match series. India won the last Test (by 13 runs) at Mumbai in what turned out to be an absolute dustbowl with the Test match ending in under three days.

But, the series had been lost - the Kangaroos had finally conquered their final frontier and the series in many ways started the slide of Ganguly's captaincy stint.

#1 Losing to Pakistan 2-4 in 2005

India lost at home 2-4
India lost 2-4 at home

India came into the bilateral ODI series on the back of a chastening loss in the third Test at Banglore thanks to a defying 267 & 84 by Younis Khan to level the 3-Test rubber for Pakistan.

India started the series well with two back-to-back wins; the second headlined by a certain MS Dhoni. Dhoni was promoted to the No.3 spot in the second ODI at Vizag and stroked a swashbuckling 148 to lead the Men in Blue to a 58-run win and take a 2-0 lead in the six-match series.

The tide changed, however, from the 3rd ODI as Pakistan orchestrated a sensational turn-around with the Men in Green humbling the hosts by 106, three wickets, five wickets and 159 runs respectively to cap-off a memorable 2-4 humbling of India.

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Edited by Sarah Waris