Happy Birthday Dada: Five decisions by Sourav Ganguly that changed Indian cricket forever

Sourav Ganguly, one of India’s finest captains celebrates his 48th birthday today. Here’s looking at 5 decisions Dada made that changed Indian cricket forever

Sourav Ganguly, the former Indian legendary captain, prolific opener and present BCCI President turns 48 today.With 11363 runs and 22 ODI hundreds to his name, Ganguly goes down as one of India’s best opening batsmen that has ever been produced. Apart from his batting records, Ganguly is also hailed as one of the best captains of Indian Cricket team and is often credited for revolutionising the team in early 2000s. Under his leadership, India went on to beat Australia in Test series in 2001, beat England at Lord’s to win 2002 NatWest Trophy, reached 2003 ODI World Cup final, drew against England in Test series in 2004, and even defeated Pakistan in a Test series in 2005.

On his 48th birthday, here are 5 decisions from Dada which changed Indian cricket forever:

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  1. Sending Laxman at No.3 in Kolkata in 2001 against Australia – Ganguly was always an instinctive captain. Laxman was the only Indian batsman who looked at ease against the Australian attack in the first innings of the famous Kolkata Test in 2001. India were asked to follow on as early as Day 3 and Ganguly decided to promote Laxman at No.3 in place of Rahul Dravid. The move proved to be a masterstroke for both as both Dravid and Laxman batted through Day 4 with latter registering 281 – the then highest score by an Indian to set up an improbable win on Day 5 which was completed by a rampaging Harbhajan Singh. The win put an end to Australia’s 16-match winning streak and India then went to win the final Test at Chennai to take the series 2-1.
  2. Asking Viru to open: Virender Sehwag had batted in the middle order all his life. Even when he made his Test debut for India at Bloemfontein in South Africa, he had smashed a century batting at No.6. Dada saw something that no-one else did and believed that the Sehwag’s right handed batting skills would come to greater use in the opening slot. What followed is history. With an average close to 50 and two triple tons to his name, Sehwag became one of India’s most successful Test openers and contributed to many Indian victories, especially overseas. He went on to be nicknamed the Nawab of Najafgarh
  3. Convincing Rahul Dravid to keep wickets: Sourav Ganguly’s India did not have the luxury of an MS Dhoni for the large part. For them finding a permanent wicket-keeper had become the longest-running headache. Ganguly decided to put an end to it by asking Rahul Dravid to keep wickets for the balance of the side. Reluctant Dravid, who was one of India’s most reliable top-order batsmen then, had no choice but to obey his captain’s commands. The move turned out to be a successful one as it allowed India to play an extra batsman during the 2002-2004 period.
  4. Giving the nod to MS Dhoni and later promoting him at number 3 vs Pakistan: It cannot be a mere coincidence that Indian cricket’s two most successful captains are born just a day apart. It would have been the perfect fairy tale had Ganguly was born on July 7th and Dhoni a day later instead of it being the other way around. But that doesn’t change the fact that it was Ganguly, who decided to try out Dhoni after just one successful series for India A in Kenya. “That’s my job, isn’t it? That’s every captain’s job to pick and make the best team possible,” Ganguly told Mayank Agarwal on the episode of ‘Open Nets with Mayank’ answering a fan’s query it was true that Ganguly had indeed decided to pick out of nowhere. Dada’s interview with Mayank Agarwal was shared by BCCI on their twitter handle where he went on to stress that MS Dhoni is unbelievable and Dada was glad that he was part of Indian cricket.

5. Backing young talent and creating a team with a hunger to win overseas as well: It was under Dada’s captaincy that talents like Sehwag, Yuvraj, MS Dhoni, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan began to succeed.It was the former India opener who built the Indian side from the rut of the 2000 match-fixing scandals and made them believe they can win anywhere in the world. Ganguly’s overseas record of 11/28 wins overseas is second best only to Virat’s formidable test record, speaks for itself.