Ganguly's
first step towards cricket was a
happy accident of fate:
Ganguly
was not encouraged to
play cricket because his parents wanted him to focus on his
studies. But his elder brother Snehasish was
an accomplished cricketer. He was a left-hander so Sourav simply followed his
brother and started playing with left hand. It was
convenient for him because he could thus use his brother's cricket equipment;
for his fans, it was a blessed stroke of luck, for the joys of
the left-handed drive in cricket surpass almost everything else.
One fine day
during his holidays, Sourav asked his father to get him enrolled in
a cricket academy as he was finding difficult to pass his time.
| Setbacks |
|
An
under-15 Orissa cricket team happened to be in Calcutta,
and Sourav happened to smash them with a century. Young
Sourav had found his métier. But the pain was yet to
come. A hundred (121) for East Zone against West Zone in
the Duleep Trophy in 1991 earned Sourav a place on the
tour of Australia in 1991-92. He was played in only one
One-day International
match and was then forgotten for
over four years.
He thought that his career as an
international cricketer was over as he was ridiculed as a
non-talent, and it was alleged that he had 'attitude
problems'. They said he refused to carry drinks for his
teammates, he was too high-headed and arrogant, he behaved
like a Maharaja, an emperor. None of it was true, says
Sourav. But the labels stuck, and Sourav was a forgotten
man. He was left alone to sort out his career, and to
reinforce his shattered confidence, with some help from an
English rugby team sports psychologist.
| Success
at last ! |
But
fate had more surprises in store. Sourav was chosen to
tour England with the Indian team in 1996. Navjot
SinghSidhu, his roommate on the tour, chose to walk out of
the team after a misunderstanding with captain Azharuddin,
while Sanjay Manjrekar was injured. Sourav thus got a
chance to make his Test debut. There was a crescendo of
criticism on his selection for the tour; that
the Bengal lobby was at the base of his inclusion was the
harsh and unanimous verdict. But all that lasted only till
the second Test at Lord's where he blasted a superb
century.
| As
a person
|
Sourav
Ganguly is a quiet, unassuming, undemonstrative man
with nerves of steel. As the current captain of the team, Ganguly's
aggressive batting and big scores testify to the
fact that he has learnt to deal with pressure and
the burden of leading the country does not
constraint him. In fact, the responsibility seems to have had an
encouraging effect; he is beginning to emerge from
the shadow of Sachin Tendulkar. Sourav is a deeply
religious person and observes a fast every Tuesday.
|
| His
marriage |
|
He is
married to Dona, who was a next-door neighbour to
the Ganguly family. Their fathers were once friends
but the relationship was strained and the young
couple got married under cover. It was a typical
Hindi movie love story where the hero and
heroine are separated by their parents and so
they run off to get married. And like the
movie ends their families too reconciled
but only in the end i.e. after the marraige.
|
| His
first love |
You
all will be surprised to know that 'Football'
is Saurav's first love. He played for his
school football team for four years. But since
there were not many opportunities in football,
he shifted to cricket. This shift of game was
because of his father, who made him join a
cricket coaching club. His father Mr. Chandi
Ganguly had also played for the state.
| His
Secret |
|
Now
we will tell you a private habit of your
favourite cricketer.............The
first thing Saurav does after he checks
into a hotel room is to place the
portrait of goddess Kali and the picture
of his wife Dona on his bed side table.
For this
Bengal Tiger there
is nothing more
relaxing than watching Dona (his wife
who is a classical dancer)perform a
dance routine.
|
|
|
| Achievements
|
|
Ganguly
was appointed the Captain of the Indian cricket
team in February, 2000.
Ganguly was the Man of the Series in the New Zealand-India
5 match ODI series in November 1999.
Ganguly made a mammoth 183 against Sri Lanka in
World Cup 1999, which, at that time, was the Highest
ODI Score by an Indian, beating Kapil Dev's Record
of 175*.
Ganguly was the Man of the Series in the Pepsi
Cup 1999 (March-April) for scoring 278 runs and
taking 6 wickets in total.
Saurav Ganguly has the distinction of being one
of the few players in the World to Score a century
and take 4 wickets in the same match. (ODIs)
Saurav Ganguly along with Tendulkar forms the
4th Best Opening Pair in the History of One-day
cricket.
Saurav Ganguly and Tendulkar were involved in
a World Record Opening Partnership of 252.
Saurav Ganguly scored a Century on Debut at Lords
in 1996, and went on to score a century in the
very next match as well.
Saurav Ganguly was named Sport star Person of
the Year 1998. He also won the Arjuna Award in
1998.
Saurav Ganguly was the Highest Run-Scorer for
India in ODIs in 1997.
In the Sahara Cup 1997, Saurav Ganguly set a new
World Record for 5 consecutive Man of the Match
Awards. He was also the Man of the Series.
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