$50,000,000
Sourav Ganguly
Net Worth
Born in (City)
Kolkata
Born in (Country)
India
Date of Birth
08th December, 1972
Date of Death
-
Mother
Nirupa Ganguly
Father
Chandidas Ganguly
Children
- Sana Ganguly
About
Sourav Chandidas Ganguly, affectionately known as Dada (meaning "elder brother" in Bengali), is an Indian cricket administrator, commentator and former national cricket team captain who is the 39th and current president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India. During his playing career, Ganguly established himself as one of the world's leading batsmen and also one of the most successful captains of the Indian national cricket team. While batting, he was especially prolific through the off side, earning himself the nickname God of the Off Side for his elegant stroke play square of the wicket and through the covers. As a cricketer he played as a left-handed opening batsman and was captain of the Indian national team. He was elected as a president of the BCCI in 2019.
Early Life
Sourav Ganguly was born on 8 July 1972 in Calcutta, and is the youngest son of Chandidas and Nirupa Ganguly. Chandidas ran a flourishing print business and was one of the richest men in the city. Ganguly had a luxurious childhood and was nicknamed the 'Maharaja', meaning the 'Great King'. Since the favourite sport for the people of Calcutta was football, Ganguly was initially attracted to the game. However, academics came in-between his love for sports and Nirupa was not very supportive of Ganguly taking up cricket or any other sport as a career. By then, his elder brother Snehasish was already an established cricketer for the Bengal cricket team. He supported Ganguly's dream to be a cricketer and asked their father to get Ganguly enrolled in a cricket coaching camp during his summer holidays. Ganguly was studying in tenth standard at that time. Despite being right-handed, Ganguly learnt to bat left-handed so he could use his brother's sporting equipment. After he showed some promise as a batsman, he was enrolled in a cricket academy. An indoor multi-gym and concrete wicket was built at their home, so he and Snehasish could practice the game. They used to watch a number of old cricket match videos, especially the games played by David Gower, whom Ganguly admired. After he scored a century against the Orissa Under–15 side, he was made captain of St Xavier's School's cricket team. In 1992, he started his cricketing career in the ODI playing against west indies in Brisbane in a triangular series Ganguly was often perceived to be infrequent with a sense of arrogance and entitled Ganguly was subsequently terminated from the team but through many hardships, he toiled his way back into the Ranji In 1993-1994
Road to Success
Following a prolific Ranji season in 1990–91, Ganguly scored three runs in his One Day International (ODI) debut for India against the West Indies in 1992. He toiled away in domestic cricket, scoring heavily in the 1993–94 and 1994–95 Ranji seasons. Following an innings of 171 in the 1995–96 Duleep Trophy, he was recalled to the National team for a tour of England in 1996, in the middle of intense media scrutiny. He played in a single ODI, but was omitted from the team for the first Test. However, after teammate Navjot Singh Sidhu left the touring, citing ill-treatment by then captain Mohammad Azharuddin, Ganguly made his Test debut against England in the Second Test of a three-match series at Lord's Cricket Ground alongside Rahul Dravid. England had won the First Test of the three-match series; however, Ganguly scored a century, becoming only the third cricketer to achieve such a feat on debut at Lord's, after Harry Graham and John Hampshire. Andrew Strauss and Matt Prior have since accomplished this feat, but Ganguly's 131 still remains the highest by any batsman on his debut at the ground. In the next Test match at Trent Bridge he made 136, thus becoming only the third batsman to make a century in each of his first two innings (after Lawrence Rowe and Alvin Kallicharran). He shared a 255 run stand with Sachin Tendulkar, which became at that time the highest partnership for India against any country for any wicket outside India. The Test again ended in a draw, handing England a 1–0 series victory; Ganguly scored 48 in the second innings. In 1997, Ganguly scored his maiden ODI century by hitting 113, opposed to Sri Lanka's team total of 238. Same year, he won four consecutive man of the match awards.
Challenges
Turbulence had hit Ganguly when he experienced his low with Greg chapel the coach. The Greg Chappell era created a storm that pushed Ganguly out of the team. Anyone may have felt disheartened and taken a break from the game. However, Ganguly immediately hit the domestic circuit to script a comeback. In hindsight, the axe did him more good than harm as some of his best knocks came after the turbulent phase. He returned to the top in ODIs to do an encore of the Ganguly-Tendulkar partnership. With doubts surrounding his career before the Test series against Australia in 2008, Ganguly announced that it was going to be his last outing. Determined to end on a high, he played several crucial knocks to help India clinch the series. Since 2008, Ganguly has lingered at the Indian Premier League (IPL) showing glimpses of the old form. In 2011, he was ignored at the auctions but was given a lifeline by Pune Warriors India. It hasn’t been a very successful time and the 2012 season was a struggle. People would have bet their money on him to fight, but age seems to have caught on. On 2 January 2021, Ganguly complained of chest pain while exercising and was later diagnosed with three blocked coronary arteries which had led to a mild cardiac arrest. He underwent primary angioplasty for one of the blockages on the same day.
Failures
Ganguly scored three runs in his One Day International (ODI) debut for India against the West Indies in 1992. He was dropped immediately since he was perceived to be "arrogant" and his attitude towards the game was openly questioned. It was rumored that Ganguly refused to carry drinks for his teammates, commenting that it was not his job to do so, later denied by him. Consequently, he was removed from the team. Following indifferent form in 2004 and poor form in 2005, he was dropped from the team in October 2005. Having been nominated and rejected in 2000, when the game suffered a tarnished reputation due to match fixing scandals, the captaincy was passed to Dravid, his former deputy.
Achievements
The only cricketer to win four consecutive man of the match awards in One Day Internationals.|He was also the first player to score 3 centuries in the history of ICC Champions Trophy|One of the only five cricketers to have achieved the unique treble of 10,000 runs, 100 wickets & 100 catches in ODI cricket.|Has the highest individual score by an Indian batsman (183) in the Cricket World Cup.|One of the 14 cricketers in the world to have played 100 or more Tests and 300 or more ODIs.|India's most successful Test captain overseas, winning 11 out of 28 matches that he led.
Quotes
- From my past performances, past success, I know all days cannot be rosy and what keeps me going is the support from my team.
- Captaincy is more off the field than on it.
- If you get physically fit, your performance becomes better. This increases your confidence and you get mentally tougher.