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Ajaysinh Daulatsinh Jadeja

Personal information
Full name	Ajaysinhji Daulatsinhji Jadeja
Born	(1971-02-01) 1 February 1971 (age 41) Jamnagar, Gujarat, India
Height	5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)
Batting style	Right-handed
Bowling style	Right-arm medium
Role	Batsman,
International information
National side	India
Test debut (cap 196)	13 November 1992 v South Africa
Last Test	26 February 2000 v South Africa
ODI debut (cap 85)	28 February 1992 v Sri Lanka
Last ODI	3 June 2000 v Pakistan
Domestic team information
Years	Team
1988/89–1998/99	Haryana
2003/04–2004/05	Jammu and Kashmir
2005/06–2006/07	Rajasthan
Career statistics
Competition	Tests	ODIs	FC	List A
Matches	15	196	109	291
Runs scored	576	5359	8046	8304
Batting average	26.18	37.47	55.10	37.91
100s/50s	0/4	6/30	20/40	11/48
Top score	96	119	264	119
Balls bowled	0	1248	4703	2681
Wickets	–	20	54	49
Bowling average	–	54.70	39.62	46.10
5 wickets in innings	–	0	0	0
10 wickets in match	–	n/a	0	n/a
Best bowling	–	3/3	4/37	3/3
Catches/stumpings	5/–	59/–	73/–	93/1
Source: CricketArchive, 30 September 2008.

Ajaysinhji Daulatsinhji Jadeja ^[1] (Sindhi: اجي جاڙيجا) ( pronunciation (help·info)) was born on 1 February 1971 in Jamnagar, Gujarat. He was a regular in the Indian cricket team between 1992 and 2000, playing in 15 Test matches and 196 One Day Internationals. His cricketing achievements were overshadowed by a 5 year ban for match-fixing. The ban was later quashed by the Delhi High Court on 27 January 2003, making Jadeja eligible to play domestic and international cricket. He was most remembered for quick hitting in the finishing overs in late 1990s.

Early life[link]

Jadeja was born into a family which has a cricketing pedigree. His relatives include K. S. Ranjitsinhji, after whom the Ranji Trophy is named, and K. S. Duleepsinhji, for whom the Duleep Trophy is named.

Career[link]

Jadeja was a regular in the Indian cricket team between 1992 and 2000, playing in 15 Test matches and 196 One Day Internationals. He was regarded as one of the best fielders in the Indian team in his time. One of his most remembered innings was his cameo innings in 1996 Cricket World Cup quarter-final against arch rivals Pakistan when he blasted 45 off 25 balls, including 40 from the final two overs by Waqar Younis. Jadeja along with Mohammed Azharuddin holds the record for the highest one day partnership record for the 4th and 5th wicket, set against Zimbabwe and Sri Lanka respectively. Jadeja is also renowned for remarkable fielding and considered one of the safest pairs of hands in the Indian team during his tenure.

Another memorable occasion of his career was taking 3 wickets for 3 runs in 1 over against England in Sharjah to win the match for India. Jadeja has captained India in 13 One-day matches. One of Jadeja's favourite hunting grounds was the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore, the venue of the quarter-final against Pakistan in the 1996 World Cup. The last time Jadeja played in a One Day International was against Pakistan in the Pepsi Asia Cup on 3 June 2000. He scored 93 in a game that India eventually lost. Jadeja was the top scorer hitting 8 fours and 4 sixes.

Jadeja's cricketing achievements were later overshadowed by a 5 year ban for match-fixing. The ban was later quashed by the Delhi High Court on 27 January 2003, making Jadeja eligible to play domestic and international cricket. Jadeja had approached the Delhi High Court on 2 February 2001, challenging the BCCI order imposing the five-year ban on the basis of the K. Madhavan Committee recommendations.

Jadeja is currently^[when?] the coach of Rajasthan and a cricket commentator.

Television and film appearances[link]

Jadeja acted in the 2003 movie Khel with Sunny Deol and Sunil Shetty. He also acted in the 2009 movie, Pal Pal Dil Ke Saath, directed by V Krishna Kumar.^[2]

Jadeja worked for Zeenews as a cricket anchor, along with Zaheer Abbas, the former Pakistan cricket captain, during the 2003 ICC Cricket World Cup. He reprised the role for the 2007 ICC Cricket World Cup. Later, he signed to work as a cricket analyst with NDTV India and NDTV 24*7.

Ajay Jadeja was a contestant on the celebrity dance show Jhalak Dikhla Ja in its first season. He also appeared on the TV show Comedy Circus.^[3]

Personal life[link]

Ajay Jadeja is married to Aditi Jaitley and the couple have two children, Aiman and Aana. Aiman is part of The Shri Ram School, New Delhi, India. They live in South Delhi, New Delhi

See also[link]

• List of cricketers banned for match fixing

References[link]

External links[link]

• Player profile: Ajay Jadeja from ESPNcricinfo
• Player profile: Ajay Jadeja from CricketArchive

Ajay Jadeja at the Cricket World Cup
v t e India squad – 1992 Cricket World Cup 1 Azharuddin (c) 2 Kapil Dev 3 Srikkanth 4 Shastri 5 Manjrekar 6 Tendulkar 7 Jadeja 8 Kambli 9 Amre 10 Prabhakar 11 Srinath 12 More (wk) 13 Raju 14 Banerjee
v t e India squad – 1996 Cricket World Cup Semi-Finalists 1 Azharuddin (c) 2 Tendulkar 3 Jadeja 4 Sidhu 5 Kambli 6 Manjrekar 7 Mongia (wk) 8 Srinath 9 Prasad 10 Kumble 11 Prabhakar 12 Raju 13 Ankola 14 Kapoor Coach: Wadekar (Coach cum Manager)
v t e India squad – 1999 Cricket World Cup 1 Azharuddin (c) 2 Ganguly 3 Jadeja 4 Ramesh 5 Dravid 6 Robin Singh 7 Agarkar 8 Kumble 9 Mongia (wk) 10 Tendulkar 11 Prasad 12 Chopra 13 Mohanty 14 Srinath 15 Khurasiya Coach: Gaekwad

Another Robin Singh also played cricket for India

Robin Singh

Personal information
Full name	Rabindra Ramanarayan Singh
Born	(1963-11-14) 14 November 1963 (age 48) Princes Town, Trinidad and Tobago
Batting style	Left-hand bat
Bowling style	Right-arm medium-fast
Role	All Rounder
International information
National side	India
Test debut	7 October 1998 v Zimbabwe
ODI debut	11 March 1989 v West Indies
Last ODI	3 April 2001 v Australia
Domestic team information
Years	Team
1981/82–2001/02	Tamil Nadu
Career statistics
Competition	Tests	ODIs
Matches	1	136
Runs scored	27	2336
Batting average	13.50	25.95
100s/50s	-/-	1/9
Top score	15	100
Balls bowled	60	3734
Wickets	-	69
Bowling average	-	43.26
5 wickets in innings	-	2
10 wickets in match	-	n/a
Best bowling	-	5/22
Catches/stumpings	5/-	33/-
Source: [1], 10 February 2006

Robin Singh  pronunciation (help·info), full name Rabindra Ramanarayan Singh (Tamil: ரபீந்திர ராம் நாராயண் சிங், Hindi: रवींद्र राम नारायण सिंह, b. November 14, 1963, S R Nagar, Princes Town, Trinidad) is a former cricketer (batsman) who played for India. He is currently the coach of Mumbai Indians.^[1] He was known for his brilliant running between the wickets, diving efforts to make the crease and great fielding ability.

Early life[link]

Robin Singh was born in Trinidad and Tobago to Indian parents, he moved to India early in his life and played his early cricket in Madras. He currently resides in Adayar, Chennai, although his parents still live in Trinidad.^[2]

Playing career[link]

First Class Career[link]

Robin Singh started his first class career for Tamil Nadu during the 1981-82 season. He was a genuine all rounder for his club and made more than 6,000 runs and also took 172 wickets with his gentle medium fast bowling during a first class career that spanned more than two decades.

International career[link]

Robin Singh made his debut for India in One Day Internationals against West Indies on March 11, 1989, however he was dropped after the series. Singh had to wait another seven years to secure a regular place in the Indian team. On the back of consistent performances in domestic cricket Singh was recalled for the Titan Cup tournament in 1996. He remained a regular in the ODIs till 2001. Singh was known for his middle-lower order batting and medium-pace bowling as well as his ground fielding skills. He was noted for his batting in the closing overs (usually along with Ajay Jadeja) which made him an integral part of the side that competed in the 1999 Cricket World Cup.^[3] During his playing days, he was regarded as one of the best fielders of the Indian cricket team. Throughout his career Singh was considered a better fit for One Day matches and he played just one test match for his country.

Coaching career[link]

Robin Singh first moved into coaching when he took up the job of being the coach of the Hong Kong national cricket team in 2004.^[4] He helped Hong Kong qualify for the 2004 Asia Cup, where the team played its only One Day international matches to date. In 2006 Robin Singh was appointed the coach of India A cricket team, where he coached cricketers like Gautam Gambhir and Robin Uthappa, a number of cricketers coached by Singh moved on to play for the national team.^[5] Singh was named the fielding coach of the Indian national team in 2007 and in 2008 he was also appointed the first head coach of Deccan Chargers franchise in the Indian Premier League.^[6] Singh remained the fielding coach for the Indian team until October 2009 and is currently coach of the Mumbai Indians of the IPL, whom he led to the runners up position during the 2010 IPL season as well as the Winners of 2011 Champions League Twenty20. In 2011, Singh coached the United States Women's Cricket team at the World Cup Qualifier Tournament in Bangladesh.^[7]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Player profile: Robin Singh from ESPNcricinfo
• Player profile: Robin Singh from CricketArchive

v t e India squad – 1999 Cricket World Cup 1 Azharuddin (c) 2 Ganguly 3 Jadeja 4 Ramesh 5 Dravid 6 Robin Singh 7 Agarkar 8 Kumble 9 Mongia (wk) 10 Tendulkar 11 Prasad 12 Chopra 13 Mohanty 14 Srinath 15 Khurasiya Coach: Gaekwad

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Harsha Bhogle
Born	(1961-07-19) 19 July 1961 (age 50) Hyderabad, India
Occupation	TV Commentator/Presenter
Spouse	Anita
Children	Chinmay and Satchit

Harsha Bhogle (Marathi: हर्ष भोगले) (born 19 July 1961) is an Indian cricket commentator and journalist. He was born in a Marathi speaking family in Hyderabad. Bhogle has recently become a freelance TV presenter.

Early life[link]

Harsha Bhogle is the son of A. D. Bhogle, a professor of French, and Shalini Bhogle, a professor of psychology. He went to Hyderabad Public School, then studied chemical engineering at Osmania University in Hyderabad and later at the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad. After graduation, he joined an advertising agency and worked there for two years before moving on to another two year stint in a sports management company.

Career[link]

Bhogle began his career as a commentator at the age of 19 with All India Radio, while living in Hyderabad. In 1991-92, he became the first Indian commentator to be invited by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation during India's cricket series before the 1992 Cricket World Cup. He has since worked for ABC Radio Grandstand during India's Australian tours, and for eight years worked for the BBC as part of their commentary team in the 1996 and the 1999 Cricket World Cups.

Since 1995, he has been presenting live cricket from all around the world for ESPN STAR Sports and was part of the 'Few Good Men' commentary team that included Ravi Shastri, Sunil Gavaskar, and Alan Wilkins along with Geoff Boycott and Navjot Singh Sidhu, for few seasons, and later, Ian Chappell and Sanjay Manjrekar.

He covered the 2011-'12 series in Australia solely for ABC Radio - the first time in a decade he has not been part of an ESPN Star broadcast.

Harsha has been covering all Indian Premier League seasons since 2009 and is an expert cricket analyst on CNN-IBN.

He has hosted television programs such as Harsha Online, Harsha Unplugged and School Quiz Olympiad for ESPN and Star Sports.

Harsha even had a Television programme named after him, "Harsha ki khoj"/"Hunt by Harsha", that strived to find broadcasting talent in India.

Bhogle was recently voted the favourite TV cricket commentator by Cricinfo users based on a worldwide poll.^[1] Bhogle has also anchored BBC's travel serial Travel India and Business Today Acumen Business Quiz and Debate competitions.

Bhogle was the advisor to the Mumbai Indians for the 2008 IPL.^[2]

Bhogle has published and authored a number of books, including a biography of Mohammad Azharuddin and a collection of columns in The Indian Express, Out of the Box - Watching the Game We Love and is also a columnist for the Chennai based "The Sportstar" a subsidiary of The Hindu group of Publications under the title "Hitting Hard" by Bhogle. (2009). Bhogle has presented the program TRAVEL INDIA WITH HARSHA BHOGLE on the Discovery channel and TLC.

Bhogle has recently become a freelance TV presenter, not being employed with any one channel. In the 2011 World Cup held in India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, he anchored the pre and post match shows that features Simon Hughes, Navjot Singh Sidhu, Sunil Gavaskar, Tony Greig and Sourav Ganguly.

Bhogle's presence in electronic media can be seen through his twitter account "bhogleharsha" and his weekly article on espncricinfo [1].

Personality[link]

Harsha is a vegetarian. He has been a brand ambassador of PETA.^{[citation needed]} Harsha is known to be a very modest person. Although quite technology savvy on the web, he still owns an old Nokia cell phone and travels in yellow cabs from the airport to his home in Mumbai.^{[citation needed]} Harsha is a cricket icon who follows his passions. He quotes,"Give your best performance and make the result irrelevant".^{[citation needed]} He is regarded today as one of the best commentators, staying true to his father's golden words,"Give your best so that the God of Fortune asks you What do you want".^{[citation needed]}

Books[link]

He and his wife Anita Bhogle have written a book titled The winning way: Learning from Sport managers based on business knowledge drawn from the sporting world. This book is result of ten years of work and experience in sports based communication. His has also authored a biography of Mohammad Azharuddin. His collection of articles is published in a book called Out of the Box.

Other Work[link]

Harsha, along with his wife, Anita (also a management graduate), runs a sport-based communication consultancy called Prosearch. ^[3]

Family[link]

Harsha is married to Anita, his classmate in IIM-A, and the couple live in Mumbai with their sons Chinmay and Satchit. Harsha's elder brother, Srinivas is an ex-ISI and a statistician based in Bangalore.

References[link]

External links[link]

• Harsha Bhogle's Speech on Achievers of Excellence at IIM Ahmedabad
• Harsha Bhogle's columns for the Indian Express
• Harsha Bhogle's biography at ESPN STAR Sports
• Its All About - Harsha Bhogle
• Harsha at IMDB.com

Sourav Ganguly

Personal information
Full name	Sourav Chandidas Ganguly
Born	(1972-07-08) 8 July 1972 (age 39) Behala, Calcutta, West Bengal, India
Nickname	The Prince of Calcutta, The Maharaja, Dada, The Warrior Prince
Height	5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)
Batting style	Left-handed
Bowling style	Right arm medium
Role	Batsman
Relations	Snehasish Ganguly (brother), Dona Ganguly (Wife)
International information
National side	India
Test debut (cap 207)	20 June 1996 v England
Last Test	6 November 2008 v Australia
ODI debut (cap 84)	11 January 1992 v West Indies
Last ODI	15 November 2007 v Pakistan
Domestic team information
Years	Team
1990–2010	Bengal
2000	Lancashire
2005	Glamorgan
2006	Northamptonshire
2008–10	Kolkata Knight Riders
2011-present	Pune Warriors India
Career statistics
Competition	Test	ODI	FC	LA
Matches	113	311	254	437
Runs scored	7,212	11,363	15,687	15,622
Batting average	42.17	41.02	44.18	41.32
100s/50s	16/35	22/72	33/89	31/97
Top score	239	183	239	183
Balls bowled	3,117	4,561	11,108	8,199
Wickets	32	100	167	171
Bowling average	52.53	38.49	36.52	38.86
5 wickets in innings	0	2	4	2
10 wickets in match	0	n/a	0	n/a
Best bowling	3/28	5/16	6/46	5/16
Catches/stumpings	71/–	100/–	168/–	131/– column2 = 20-20
Source: CricketInfo, 28 February 2009

Sourav Chandidas Ganguly ( pronunciation (help·info); born 8 July 1972) is a former Indian cricketer, and captain of the Indian national team. Born into an affluent 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.^[1] 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.^[2]

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.

Due to the match-fixing scandals in 2000 by other players of the team, and for his poor health, Indian captain Sachin Tendulkar resigned his position, and Ganguly was made the captain of the Indian cricket team. He was soon the subject of media criticism after an unsuccessful stint for county side Durham and for taking off his shirt in the final of the 2002 Natwest Trophy. He led India into the 2003 World Cup final, where they were defeated by Australia. Due to a decrease in individual performance, he was dropped from the team in the following year. Ganguly was awarded the Padma Shri in 2004, one of India's highest civilian awards. He returned to the National team in 2006, and made successful batting displays. Around this time, he became involved in a dispute with Indian team coach Greg Chappell over several misunderstandings. Ganguly was again dropped from the team, however he was selected to play in the 2007 Cricket World Cup.

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. 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.

Biography[link]

1972–89: Early life and introduction to cricket[link]

Sourav Ganguly was born on 8 July 1972 in Calcutta, and is the youngest son of Chandidas and Nirupa Ganguly.^[3][4] Chandidas ran a flourishing print business and was one of the richest men in the city.^[5] Ganguly had a luxurious childhood and was nicknamed the 'Maharaja', meaning the 'Great King'. Since the favourite sport for the people of Calcutta was the game of 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.^[6][7] 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 grade at that time.^[8]

Despite being right-handed, Ganguly learnt to bat left-handed so he could use his brother's sporting equipment.^[6] 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.^[5] After he scored a century against the Orissa Under–15 side, he was made captain of St Xavier's School's cricket team, where several of his teammates complained against what they perceived to be his arrogance.^[6][9] While touring with a junior team, Ganguly refused his turn as the twelfth man, as he reportedly felt that the duties involved, which included organising equipment and drinks for the players, and delivering messages, were beneath his social status.^[10] Ganguly purportedly refused to do such tasks as he considered it beneath his social status to assist his teammates in such a way.^[11] However, his playmanship gave him a chance to make his first-class cricket debut for Bengal in 1989, the same year that his brother was dropped from the team.^[6][12]

1990–96: Career beginning and debut success[link]

The Lord's Pavillion

Following a prolific Ranji season in 1990–91,^[13] Ganguly scored three runs in his One Day International (ODI) debut for India against the West Indies in 1992.^[3][14] 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.^[6][11] He toiled away in domestic cricket, scoring heavily in the 1993–94 and 1994–95 Ranji seasons.^[15][16] 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.^[17] He played in a single ODI,^[18] 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,^[19][20] Ganguly made his Test debut against England in the Second Test of a three-match series at Lord's Cricket Ground alongside Rahul Dravid.^[21] 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.^[20] India was not required to bat in the second innings due to the match ending in a draw.^[22] 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.^[23][24]

1997–99: Marriage, Opening in ODIs and World Cup '99[link]

Ganguly in Sri Lanka in 2008.

Weeks after his successful tour of England, Ganguly eloped with childhood sweetheart Dona Roy. The bride and groom's family were sworn enemies at that point and this news caused an uproar between them. However, both families reconciled and a formal wedding was held in February 1997.^[6][25] Same year, Ganguly scored his maiden ODI century by hitting 113, opposed to Sri Lanka's team total of 238. Later that year, he won four consecutive man of the match awards, in the Sahara Cup with Pakistan; the second of these was won after he took five wickets for 16 runs off 10 overs, his best bowling in an ODI. After a barren run in Test cricket his form returned at the end of the year with three centuries in four Tests all against Sri Lanka two of these involved stands with Sachin Tendulkar of over 250.^[3]

During the final of the Independence Cup at Dhaka in January 1998, India successfully chased down 315 off 48 overs, and Ganguly won the Man of the Match award.^[26] In March 1998 he was part of the Indian team that defeated Australia; in Kolkata, he took three wickets having opened the bowling with his medium pace.^[27]

Ganguly was part of the Indian team that competed in the 1999 Cricket World Cup in England. During the match against Sri Lanka at Taunton, India chose to bat. After Sadagoppan Ramesh was bowled, Ganguly scored 183 from 158 balls, and hit 17 fours and seven sixes. It became the second highest score in World Cup history and the highest by an Indian in the tournament. His partnership of 318 with Rahul Dravid is the highest overall score in a World Cup and is the second highest in all ODI cricket.^[28][29] In 1999–00, India lost Test series to both Australia and South Africa that involved a combined total of five Tests.^[30][31] Ganguly struggled scoring 224 runs at 22.40; however his ODI form was impressive, with five centuries over the season taking him to the top of the PwC One Day Ratings for batsmen.^[32] Around the same time, allegations came that Ganguly was romantically involved with South Indian actress Nagma, something he denied.^[33]

2000–05: Ascension to captaincy and accolades[link]

The shirt that Ganguly took off at the finals of the Natwest Trophy, on display at a store in London.

In 2000, after the match fixing scandal by some of the players of the team,^[34] Ganguly was named the Captain of the Indian cricket team. The decision was spurred due to Tendulkar stepping down from the position for his health, and Ganguly being the vice-captain at that time.^[6] He began well as a captain, leading India to a series win over South Africa in the five-match one day series and led the Indian team to the finals of the 2000 ICC KnockOut Trophy.^[6] He scored two centuries, including one in the final; however, New Zealand still won by four wickets.^[35] The same year, Ganguly tried his hand at county cricket career in England but was not successful.^[36] In "The Wisden Cricketer", reviewers Steve Pittard and John Stern called him as "The imperious Indian—dubbed 'Lord Snooty'". They commented:

"At the crease it was sometimes uncertain whether his partner was a batsman or a batman being dispatched to take his discarded sweater to the pavilion or carry his kit bag. But mutiny was afoot among the lower orders. In one match Ganguly, after reaching his fifty, raised his bat to the home balcony, only to find it deserted. He did not inspire at Glamorgan or Northamptonshire either. At the latter in 2006 he averaged 4.80 from his four first-class appearances."^[37]

His Lancashire teammate Andrew Flintoff thought him to be aloof and compared his attitude to that of Prince Charles.^[9] In Australia's three Test and five match ODI tour of India in early 2001, Ganguly caused controversy by arriving late for the toss on four occasions, something that agitated opposing captain Steve Waugh.^[38] In the Fourth ODI, he caused further controversy by failing to wear his playing attire to the toss, something considered unusual in cricket circles.^[39] However, India won the Test series 2–1, ending Australia's run of 16 consecutive Test match victories in the Second Test.^[40] The match saw India looking set for defeat after conceding a first innings lead of 274. Waugh chose to enforce the follow-on and V. V. S. Laxman (281) and Rahul Dravid (180) batted for the entire fourth day's play to set Australia a target of 384 on a dusty, spinning wicket. The Australians were unable to survive and became only the third team to lose a Test after enforcing the follow-on.^[41][42][43] In November 2001, Ganguly's wife Dona gave birth to their daughter Sana Ganguly.^[6] At the Border-Gavaskar Trophy of 2001, During the final match of the 2002 Natwest Trophy held in Lords after a stunning performance by team mates Yuvraj Singh and Mohammad Kaif, Ganguly took off his shirt in public and brandished it in the air to celebrate India's winning of the match.^[44] He was later strongly condemned for tarnishing the "gentleman's game" image of cricket and disrespecting Lords protocol. Ganguly said that he was only mimicking an act performed by the British all-rounder Andrew Flintoff during a tour of India.^[45] In 2003, India reached the World Cup Final for the first time since 1983, where they lost to the Australians.^[46] Ganguly had a successful tournament personally, scoring 465 runs at an average of 58.12, including three centuries.^[47]

By 2004, he had achieved significant success as captain and was deemed as India's most successful cricket captain by sections of the media. However, his individual performance deteriorated during his captaincy reign, especially after the World Cup, the tour of Australia in 2003 and the Pakistan series in 2004.^[48][49] In 2004, Australia won a Test series in India for the first time since 1969. It was speculated that Ganguly was in disagreement with the head of cricket in Nagpur over the type of pitch to be used for the Third Test. The groundsmen went against Ganguly, leaving a large amount of grass on the pitch. Some experts indicated that the reason for this was for "spite or revenge" against the Indian captain. When Australia's stand-in-captain, Adam Gilchrist, went to the toss, he noticed Rahul Dravid was waiting instead of Ganguly, leaving him to ask Dravid where Ganguly was. Dravid could not give a definitive answer, saying: "Oh, who knows?"^[38][50]

Following indifferent form in 2004 and poor form in 2005, he was dropped from the team in October 2005.^[51] Having been nominated and rejected in 2000, when the game suffered a tarnished reputation due to match fixing scadals,^[34] the captaincy was passed to Dravid, his former deputy. Ganguly decided against retiring and attempted to make a comeback to the team.^[11] Ganguly was awarded the Padma Shri in 2004, one of India's highest awards. He was presented with the award on June 30, 2004, by then President of India, Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam.^[52][53]

2006–07: Comeback and rift with Greg Chappell[link]

Ganguly signing autographs outside his residence.

In September 2005, Greg Chappell became the coach for the India tour of Zimbabwe. Ganguly's dispute with him resulted in many headlines. Chappell had emailed the Board of Control for Cricket in India, stating that Ganguly was "physically and mentally" unfit to lead India and that his "divide and rule" behaviour was damaging the team.^[11] This email was leaked to the media and resulted in huge backlash from Ganguly's fans. Ganguly had enlisted the support from the Indian media and eventually the board had to intervene and order a truce between the pair.^[11] BCCI president Ranbir Singh Mahendra issued a statement that,

"In view of the decision that cricket is to go forward, both the coach and the captain have been asked to work out a mutual and professional working relationship. For this, performance will be the criteria, applicable to captain, coach and players. [...] Of course the captain controls the game, the coach does his own job. Mutual trust is important. Henceforth no player/captain/coach will write or have any interaction with the media. Going to the media will lead to disciplinary action."^[54]

Ganguly, Chappell and the Indian team manager for the Zimbabwe tour, Amitabh Choudhary, were asked to appear before the BCCI committee, where it was reported that assurance of working together was given by them.^[54] Consequently, due to his poor form and differences with the coach, Ganguly was dropped as the captain of the team, with Dravid taking his place.^[55] Chandresh Narayan, chief correspondent for The Times of India, commented that "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."^[11] 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.^[56]

Following India's poor batting display in the 2006 ICC Champions Trophy^[57] and the ODI series in South Africa, in which they were whitewashed 4-0,^[58] Ganguly made his comeback to the Test team.^[59] Wasim Jaffer, Zaheer Khan and Anil Kumble had earlier been selected for the one-day squad, despite their recent poor performances.^[60] Many saw this as an indictment of coach Greg Chappell's youth-first policy.^[61] 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,^[62] resulting in India winning the match.^[63] 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.^[64][65] Though India lost the series, Ganguly accumulated the most runs on the scoring chart.^[66] After his successful Test comeback he was recalled for the ODI team, as India played host to West Indies^[67] and Sri Lanka^[68] in back to back ODI tournaments. In his first ODI innings in almost two years,^[69] he scored a matchwinning 98.^[70] He performed well in both series, averaging almost 70^[69] and won the Man of the Series Award against Sri Lanka.^[71]

Ganguly was alloted a place in the official team for the 2007 Cricket World Cup.^[72] He was the leading scorer for India in their first round defeat against Bangladesh.^[73] After India were knocked out of the tournament in the group stage, there were reports of a rift between certain members of the Indian team and Chappell. Ganguly was alleged to have ignored instructions from the team management to score quickly.^[74] After Tendulkar issued a statement saying that what hurt the team most was that "the coach has questioned our attitude", Chappell decided not to renew his contract with the Indian team and left his post as coach, citing "family and personal reasons".^[75] On 12 December 2007, Ganguly scored his maiden double century of his career while playing against Pakistan. He scored 239 runs in the first innings of the third and final Test match of the series. He was involved in a 300  run partnership for the fifth wicket with Yuvraj Singh.^[76] Ganguly remained prolific in both Test and ODI cricket in the year 2007. He scored 1106 Test runs at an average of 61.44 (with three centuries and four fifties) in 2007 to become the second highest run-scorer in Test matches of that year after Jacques Kallis.^[77] He was also the fifth highest run-scorer in 2007 in ODIs, where he scored 1240 runs at an average of 44.28.^[78]

2008–present: International retirement and the Indian Premier League[link]

Ganguly with the symbol of the Kolkata Knight Riders, flanked by Shahrukh Khan on the right and Gauri Khan on the left.

In February 2008, Ganguly joined as the captain of Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) team, owned by Bollywood actor Shahrukh Khan, as part of the Indian Premier League (IPL).^[79] On 18 April 2008, Ganguly led the KKR, in the IPL Twenty20 cricket match. They had a 140 run victory over Bangalore Royal Challengers captained by Rahul Dravid and owned by Vijay Mallya. Ganguly opened the innings with Brendan McCullum and scored 10 runs while McCullum remained unbeaten, scoring 158 runs in 73 balls.^[80] On 1 May, in a game between the Knight Riders and the Rajasthan Royals, Ganguly made his second T20 half century, scoring 51 runs off of 39 balls at a strike rate of 130.76. In his innings, Ganguly hit four 4s and two sixes, topping the scorers list for the Knight Riders.^[81]

On 7 July 2008, media reported that Ganguly was being projected as a candidate for the post of President of the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) against his former mentor Jagmohan Dalmiya. Reports also suggested that he could run for the post of BCCI President in 2014 as East Zone's representative. Ganguly himself did not deny the reports and did not rule out any such move.^[82][83] The same year in October, Ganguly announced that the Test series against Australia starting in October 2008 would be his last and stated "[t]o be honest, I didn't expect to be picked for this series. Before coming here, [at the conference] I spoke to my team-mates and hopefully I will go out with a winning knock."^[84] Ganguly played in every game of the four-Test series and amassed 324 runs at an average of 54.00.^[85][86] While playing the second Test match of the series in Mohali, Ganguly scored his final test century. In the Fourth and final Test, with India needing one wicket to secure a victory, the Indian captain, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, invited Ganguly to lead the side in the field for the final time. India regained the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, winning the series 2–0.^[87][88]

In May 2009, Ganguly was removed from the captaincy of the KKR for the 2009 season of the IPL, and was replaced by McCullum. The decision was questioned by media and other players of the team, when KKR finished at the bottom of the ranking table with three wins and ten losses.^[89] After that, television channel Zee Bangla appointed him as the host of the reality quiz show titled Dadagiri Unlimited. It presented participants from the 19 districts of West Bengal, who had to answer questions posed by Ganguly.^[90] By August, he was appointed the chairman of CAB's Cricket Development Committee. The job of the committee is to receive a report from the selectors at the end of every cricket season, assess the accountability of the selectors and make necessary recommendations.^[91] He played for the Ranji cup in the Bengal team in October 2009.^[92] Ganguly scored 110 in the match against Delhi and was involved in a partnership of 222 runs with Wriddhiman Saha.^[93]

In the third season of the IPL, Ganguly was once again given the captaincy of KKR, after the team ended at the bottom in the second season. The coach John Buchanan was replaced by Dav Whatmore.^[94] In 40 matches and 38 innings for KKR Ganguly scored 1,031 runs and took eight wickets.^[95][96] In the fourth season of the IPL he was signed by the Pune Warriors India, after being unsold in initial bidding process and he made 50 runs of four matches and three innings.^[97][98] In the 2012 season he has been appointed as the Captain cum mentor for Pune Warriors India.

Playing style and influences[link]

Ganguly in action on the field.

Ganguly commented that David Gower was the first cricketer to attract him to the game. He loved Gower's style and used to watch old videos of him playing.^[99] Other cricketers who had an influence on him are: David Boon, Mohinder Amarnath, Kapil Dev and Allan Border.^[100] Ganguly is a left-handed batsman whose runs came primarily from the off-side. Debashish Dutta, author of Sourav Ganguly, the maharaja of cricket, commented that throughout his career, "Ganguly played off-side shots such as the square cut, square drive and cover drive with complete command."^[101] Rahul Dravid has called Ganguly "...next to God on the off-side." He used to hit powerful shots to the off-side on front and back foot with equal ease. However, early in his career he was not comfortable with the hook and pull, often giving his wicket away with mistiming such shots. He was also criticized for having difficulty in handling short bouncers, notoriously exploited by the Australians and South Africans.^[102] However, after his comeback in 2007, he worked upon these weaknesses to a large extent.^[103]

Amrita Daityari, author of Sourav Ganguly: the fire within, noted that in ODIs, where Ganguly usually opened the innings, he used to try to take the advantage of fielding restrictions by advancing down the pitch and hitting pace bowlers over extra cover and mid-off. She commented: "Ganguly was notorious for attacking left-arm spin bowlers. Due to excellent eye–hand coordination, he was noted for picking the length of the ball early, coming down the pitch and hitting the ball aerially over mid-on or midwicket, often for a six. However, he did have a weakness in running between the wickets and judging quick singles."^[104] There were many instances where Ganguly's batting partner was run out due to Ganguly's calling for a run, and then sending him back while halfway down the pitch. A situation like this happened in an ODI against Australia where he took a single when on 99, but he coasted and did not ground his bat. Although the bat was past the crease, it was in the air and he was consequently run out. Ganguly said, "I love to watch myself hit a cover drive, to watch myself hit a hundred."^[105] Ganguly's relationship with former Indian coach John Wright has been well documented in contemporary media, with them denoting the relationship as a "symbiotic process". They credited Wright and Ganguly with bringing out international class performers, through academic, coaching and scientific fitness regimens.^[106] According to Dubey, Ganguly and Wright, along with other members of the team like Tendulkar and Dravid, were the first to understand the importance of a foreign coach for the Indian cricket team and was convinced that the domestic coach has outlived its utility. Ganguly's aggressive style and Wright's importance on fitness ushered in the development of a better cricket team for India.^[106]

Ganguly is a right-arm medium pace bowler. He can swing and seam the ball both ways and often chips in with useful wickets to break partnerships.^[3] Vinod Tiwari, author of the biography Sourav Ganguly praised him saying "[d]espite not being very athletic as a fielder, Ganguly has taken 100 catches in one-day Internationals. That's something to be proud of!" However he criticized Ganguly's ground fielding, especially his slowness in intercepting the ball to prevent runs and his tendency to get injured during catching the ball.^[107]

Legacy[link]

An innings-by-innings breakdown of Ganguly's Test match batting career, showing runs scored (red bars) and the average of the last ten innings (blue line).

Author Pradeep Mandhani commented that in his tenure between 2000 and 2005, Ganguly became India's most successful Test captain. He led his team to victory on 21 occasions — seven times more than Mohammad Azharuddin with the second most wins—and led them for a record 49 matches—twice more than both Azharuddin and Sunil Gavaskar.^[108][109] Compared to his batting average of 45.47 when not captain,^[110] Ganguly's Test batting average as captain was a lower 37.66.^[111]

Statistics about Ganguly show that he was the seventh Indian cricketer to have played 100 Test matches,^[112] the 4th highest overall run scorer for India in Tests,^[113] and the fourth Indian to have played in more than 300 ODIs.^[114] In terms of overall runs scored in ODIs, Ganguly is the second among Indians after Sachin Tendulkar (who has the most ODI runs) and the fifth overall.^[115] He has scored 16 centuries in Test matches and 22 in ODIs. He is also one of only eight batsmen to score more than 10,000 runs in ODIs.^[116] Along with Tendulkar, Ganguly has formed the most successful opening pair in One Day Cricket, having amassed the highest number of century partnerships (26) for the first wicket. Together, they have scored more than 7000 runs at an average of 48.98, and hold the world record for creating most number of 50-run partnership in the first wicket (44 fifties).^[117] Ganguly became the fourth player to cross 11,000 ODI runs, and was the fastest player to do so in ODI cricket, after Tendulkar.^[118] As of 2006, he is the only Indian captain to win a Test series in Pakistan (although two of the three Tests of that series was led by Rahul Dravid). He is also one of the three players in the world to achieve amazing treble of 10,000 runs, 100 wickets and 100 catches in ODI cricket history, the others being Tendulkar and Sanath Jayasuriya.^[119]

Ganguly with the young cricketers of the Kolkata Knight Riders team during IPL 2009.

Author Mihir Bose, in his book, The magic of Indian cricket: cricket and society in India. commented that "The cricket world had gotten too used to the stereotype of the meek Indian cricketer. All that has changed under Ganguly, perhaps for the better."^[120] He credits Ganguly for not being shy of taking on responsibility. "He showed that he can be a leader of a team, which has greats like Sachin and Dravid in the side, without any problems. Under Ganguly's leadership, India started winning matches and tournaments, previously lacking from the team considerably."^[120] Within a few years of his captaincy, Ganguly rewrote the rules of being a captain of a cricket team. Unlike some of his predecessors, Ganguly was considered impartial, non-parochial, and forever pushed his players to perform better. Off the field, his interactions with the media, his fans, and detractors were uncompromisingly honest and earned him the respect of cricket followers everywhere. However, along with this respect came the criticisms. Ganguly was condemned as a hot-tempered man who refused to listen to other's opinions and abided by his own rules and regulations.^[120] Matthew Engel, ICC sport critic, noted that this "turning deaf" to other's opinions would one day harm Ganguly and that it was sheer luck that he existed on the sporting world.^[121]

Ganguly believed that his legacy as a captain was that he was able to build a proper Indian team. He added,

"[We] were able to change the face of Indian cricket. That's what I'm proud of, because I think we made a huge difference. People used to think that we would simply roll over when playing out of India, but we changed the image. [...] [The team wouldn't take any crap from any opposition] Absolutely, and that came from self-belief that, that we had the ability to do well outside India."^[122]

Bose commented that Ganguly's greatest legacy lay in his influence on the younger and budding generation of cricketers. Ganguly felt that every young player should play two years of domestic cricket before being selected for international assignments. He also said that every newcomer should be given at least five games to prove himself.^[123][124] Later he explained that being at the receiving end of an unfair decision against him, that threatened to ruin his international cricket career, it enabled him to understand the insecurities of other newcomers in the team better than his predecessors. Ganguly had always backed the influence and contribution of younger players of the team.^[125]

Despite his contributions, his captaincy and coaching methods came under immense scrutiny from the press as well as other scholars. Engel commented that "He seems like aloof to the problems that his mal-decisions are creating. I don't particularly believe that Ganguly has an 'effing knowledge how to lead his team and tries to counter-pose it with instigating limitless, confrontational behaviours within the younger members of it. [One day] the time will come when such shock tactics will cease to work."^[126] An article on Cricinfo Magazine pointed out his reckless behaviour. The reporter Rahul Bhattacharya said, "Generally Ganguly fostered angry or reckless young men. To him 'good behaviour', a broad term espoused by the present team management, belonged in school and probably not even there. He himself had been summoned to the match referee no less than 12 times in the last decade. His approach was bound to precipitate what could possibly be termed a cultural conflict in the world of modern sport. For Ganguly, like for Arjuna Ranatunga, competitiveness involved brinksmanship rather than training. As far as they were concerned Australia were not to be aspired to. They were simply to be toppled. England were not to be appeased. Victory lay precisely in their disapproval. In other words, Ganguly and Ranatunga wanted to do things their way."^[127]

Captaincy Record[link]

See also[link]

• List of international cricket centuries by Sourav Ganguly

Notes[link]