Former India captain Sourav Ganguly is regarded as one of the most successful players to have led Indian cricket team. In the early 2000s, Ganguly revolutionised Indian cricket as his team developed a new must-win attitude and went on to challenge some of the best oppositions in the world. Ganguly had players like Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman, Javagal Srinath, Anil Kumble in his team. Yet he never shied away from giving youngsters a chance and backing them. Ganguly created future stars like Yuvraj Singh, Virender Sehwag, Harbhajan Singh, Irfan Pathan, MS Dhoni, and many more.
In a recent interaction, former medium pacer Irfan Pathan was asked to name the “best leader of men in India cricket”. Without a surprise, Pathan went with Sourav Ganguly and said that the former India captain knew the right players to back.
Pathan recalled how Yuvraj Singh received Ganguly’s support during a tough phase of his career. “Sourav Ganguly wanted to make sure that he built the team. I remember Yuvraj Singh was struggling at the start of his career for quite a few matches. Ganguly backed him,” Pathan told cricket.com.
“He knew that if I back this guy, some amazing things can happen in the future and certainly it did happen,” Pathan further said. Ganguly’s call proved to be true as Yuvraj led Indian team to some of the most memorable wins throughout his career.
In 2002, he played a crucial knock alongside Mohammad Kaif to help India chase down 326 at Lord’s to win the Natwest Trophy final against England.
Yuvraj Singh, one of India’s most talented southpaw’s led India along with MS Dhoni most famously to the inaugural T20 World Cup in South Africa. In the bargain, he hit Stuart Broad for six 6’s to score 36 runs in a single over, creating memories for millions of fans all over the world.
Most notably, Yuvraj Singh was awarded the Man of the Tournament award in the 2011 ODI World Cup which was eventually won by India. Despite suffering from personal ailments, Yuvraj mustered up the courage and played a crucial role in leading his country to their first ODI world cup title after the famous win of ’83.