It was in 1992 at Lords, England, and a 22 year old boy from Kolkatta made a debut in test cricket against England. The people’s eye brows rose when he got selected and literally questioned the selectors and accused them for being bias. But, no one knew this young boy would slam a ton in his debut itself, people did not know that he was Sourav Ganguly. People did not know that they raised doubts on a wrong person as he is the person who loves silencing his critics and he proved that in his debut itself. But, after his debut Sourav lost his place in the team. Actually Sourav made it to the Indian Squad in 1989 in Australia itself, but the team was already full of exceptionally talented cricketers like Kapil Dev, Navjot Singh Siddhu and hence Sourav could not make it to the playing eleven.
But after Sourav lost his place in the team, people didn’t even remember about a player named Sourav Ganguly. It seemed that this player was lost somewhere lost in the pages of history. But Sourav being industrious made it was again in 1996; he made a huge comeback and made his debut one day series against Pakistan. Then he was permanent in the squad.
It was in 1999 when all the big shots of India like Mohd. Azaruddin, Ajay Jadeja, Manoj Prabhakar were caught red handed in the scandal of match- fixing. And even Sachin Tendulkar, losing his form gave up captaincy. It was at this time he was assigned the toughest job, the job of being a captain of the India cricket team, the team who lost credibility in the eyes of people due to a blot called match fixing. But this man never lost heart. He proved that he was not simply adored by the people who often named him Maharaja, Prince of Kolkatta and the Bengal Tiger. He strived hard for transforming meek, subtle Indian Team in Team India. The team who could now stare into the eyes of the opponent, the team who won always played for winning. He taught the players to fight to death and never surrender what so ever. Under his captaincy India defeated Pakistan after a long gap of 14 years, India won against Australia in Melbourne after 22 years and the India reached the finals of the 2003 World Cup. No doubt India lost the World Cup in 2003, but it was a message to the world that the new kings were in the making.
But as all good days come to an end, even his good days came to an end in 2005 when he had a major spat with the Coach Greg Chappell and it was at this time his captaincy was snatched and was once again removed for eighteen months. People said that his cricketing career was almost over, but his determination brought him back into the team. He performed consistently till the time he retired. This cricketing legend retired on 9th Nov, 2008 leaving his fans with memories of his great off side shots. The whole nation saluted Dada for his immense contribution to India cricket.
There were moments in his life when he was thrown out by the selectors, but every time he was removed, he made an equally strong comeback and hence he is also known as the ‘KING OF COMEBACKS’.
But after Sourav lost his place in the team, people didn’t even remember about a player named Sourav Ganguly. It seemed that this player was lost somewhere lost in the pages of history. But Sourav being industrious made it was again in 1996; he made a huge comeback and made his debut one day series against Pakistan. Then he was permanent in the squad.
It was in 1999 when all the big shots of India like Mohd. Azaruddin, Ajay Jadeja, Manoj Prabhakar were caught red handed in the scandal of match- fixing. And even Sachin Tendulkar, losing his form gave up captaincy. It was at this time he was assigned the toughest job, the job of being a captain of the India cricket team, the team who lost credibility in the eyes of people due to a blot called match fixing. But this man never lost heart. He proved that he was not simply adored by the people who often named him Maharaja, Prince of Kolkatta and the Bengal Tiger. He strived hard for transforming meek, subtle Indian Team in Team India. The team who could now stare into the eyes of the opponent, the team who won always played for winning. He taught the players to fight to death and never surrender what so ever. Under his captaincy India defeated Pakistan after a long gap of 14 years, India won against Australia in Melbourne after 22 years and the India reached the finals of the 2003 World Cup. No doubt India lost the World Cup in 2003, but it was a message to the world that the new kings were in the making.
But as all good days come to an end, even his good days came to an end in 2005 when he had a major spat with the Coach Greg Chappell and it was at this time his captaincy was snatched and was once again removed for eighteen months. People said that his cricketing career was almost over, but his determination brought him back into the team. He performed consistently till the time he retired. This cricketing legend retired on 9th Nov, 2008 leaving his fans with memories of his great off side shots. The whole nation saluted Dada for his immense contribution to India cricket.
There were moments in his life when he was thrown out by the selectors, but every time he was removed, he made an equally strong comeback and hence he is also known as the ‘KING OF COMEBACKS’.
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