Sourav Chandidas Ganguly is someone who has always inspired me. Right from the time I started watching cricket I have seen him putting in his everything for our country's pride. Something which I really admire in him is the "Never Say Die" Attitude. Even if the opponents need 1 run of the last over, Ganguly is a person who would not give up. He is the laid the foundation of Indian Cricket Team worthy of lifting the World Cup in 2011. Born on 8 July 1972 into an affluent Brahmin family, Ganguly was introduced into the world of cricket by his elder brother Snehasish. He is regarded as one of India's most successful captains in modern times. He started his career by playing in state and school teams. Currently, he is the 5th highest run scorer in One Day Internationals (ODIs) and was the 3rd person in history to cross the 10,000 run landmark, after Sachin Tendulkar and Inzamam Ul Haq. Wisden ranked him the sixth greatest one day international batsman of all time, next to Viv Richards, Sachin Tendulkar, Brian Lara, Dean Jones and Michael Bevan.
After a series of playing in different Indian domestic tournaments such as the Ranji and Duleep trophies, Ganguly got his big-break while playing for India on their tour of England. He scored 131 runs and cemented his place in the Indian team. Ganguly's place in the team was assured after successful performances in series against Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Australia, winning the Man of the Match awards. In the 1999 Cricket World Cup, he was involved in a partnership of 318 runs with Rahul Dravid, which remains the highest overall partnership score in the World Cup tournament history.
Ganguly joined the Kolkata Knight Riders team as captain for the Indian Premier League Twenty20 cricket tournament in 2008. The same year, after a home Test series against Australia, he announced his retirement from international cricket. He continued to play for the Bengal team and was appointed the chairman of the Cricket Association of Bengal's Cricket Development Committee. The left-handed Ganguly was a prolific One Day International (ODI) batsman, with over 11,000 ODI runs to his credit. He is one of the most successful Indian Test captains to date, winning 21 out of 49 test matches.Sourav Ganguly is the most successful Indian test captain in overseas with 11 wins. An aggressive captain, Ganguly is credited with having nurtured the careers of many young players who played under him, and transforming the Indian team into an aggressive fighting unit.
Due to his poor form and differences with the coach, Ganguly was dropped as the captain of the team, with Dravid taking his place. "The row with Greg Chappell just added to the mystery, but he was going through a really bad patch then, his only score [of note] was a hundred against Zimbabwe and that didn't count for much." Ten months later, during India's tour to South Africa, Ganguly was recalled after his middle order replacements Suresh Raina and Mohammad Kaif suffered poor form.
Following India's poor batting display in the 2006 ICC Champions Trophy[ and the ODI series in South Africa, in which they were whitewashed 4-0,Ganguly made his comeback to the Test team.Wasim Jaffer, Zaheer Khan and Anil Kumble had earlier been selected for the one-day squad, despite their recent poor performances.Many saw this as an indictment of coach Greg Chappell's youth-first policy.Coming in at 37/4, Ganguly scored 83 in a tour match against the rest of South Africa, modifying his original batting style and taking a middle-stump guard resulting in India winning the match. During his first Test innings since his comeback, against South Africa in Johannesburg his score of 51 helped India to victory, marking the first Test match win for the team in South Africa.Though India lost the series, Ganguly accumulated the most runs on the scoring chart. After his successful Test comeback he was recalled for the ODI team, as India played host to West Indies and Sri Lanka in back to back ODI tournaments. In his first ODI innings in almost two years,[69] he scored a matchwinning 98.
He performed well in both series, averaging almost 70 and won the Man of the Series Award against Sri Lanka. Ganguly was alloted a place in the official team for the 2007 Cricket World Cup.
Saurav Ganguly is someone known for his aggression. He is the one who brought the winning attitude in the Indian Team. He has a never give up attitude. Even after being dropped from the Indian team, he did not give up. He practiced, came back and played in Ranji and made his place back in the team. Even then his thirst for playing cricket was not sufficed and he led the Kolkata Knight Riders. I am deeply motivated by his passion. He has never allowed any obstacle take him away from his passion. Even currently, he is one of the finest commentator and keeps himself as close to the game as possible. As a management Trainee, he acts to me as a motivation as it gives me a learning to act towards my passion and not to let obstacles stop me from reaching to my destination but rather learn from them and perform.
