The Bengal Tiger: Never say die!!!

In 1992 a new player marked his presence in Indian cricket team, Saurav Chandidas Ganguly. He fialed miserably against West Indies, scored only 3 runs, as a result he was dropped from the team. This man amassed a lot of runs in domestic cricket and made a comeback in Indian side touring England in 1996. He emerged as the prince of Indian cricket by scoring centuries in both the innings of his debut test match. He was awarded "Man of the series" in the first test series of his carrier. From here he never looked back and was soon became one of the most trusted and loved cricketer of India.

Sourav was appointed as captain when Sachin Tendulkar, shocked everyone by stepping down from his captaincy after India’s disastrous tour of Australia in 1999. As vice captain to Tendulkar, Sourav was the most obvious choice, also at that time a lot of major players including Sachin Tendulkar were unfit. He accepted the challenge and led India to a victory against South Africa. Suddenly a meteor crashed on the surface of world cricket, the match fixing scandal!!!

With major players like Ajay Jadeja and Md. Azzharuddin out from the action, he took the charge with youngsters. Sourav also was not 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 Sourav's leadership, India got back the winning habit which the team had forgotten.

Today, Sourav Ganguly is the most successful Indian captain leaving Mohammed Azharuddin’s previous record of 14 test wins behind. Sourav has won 21 Tests as captain, of which more than 7 wins have come overseas! His success rate is an amazing 42%, the highest ever by an Indian captain.

Under his captaincy, the Indian team achieved remarkable heights, including the Test series win against Australia at home in 2001, reaching the World Cup Final in 2003, and winning both the one-day and Test series in Pakistan in 2004.

In just a few years, Sourav rewrote the rules of captaincy. Unlike some of his predecessors, he was impartial, non-parochial, and forever pushed his players to perform better. Off the field, Sourav’s interactions with the media, his fans, and detractors were uncompromisingly honest and earned him the respect of cricket followers everywhere. His 5-year reign

as India's most successful skipper came to an end in October 2005 when India's newly appointed coach (allegedly) tried to pressurized him to step down as the Captain of Indian side.

Soon Sourav became a forgotten chapter. Team under Rahul Dravid started well but after some time it started struggling. On the other hand Ganguly didn't started domestic season well but soon he got his form back and started scoring big. In spite of that Chief of Indian Cricket Selection Committee said that the board will never ever consider Sourav again, but...

As he said, "I'll come back", he was called back to Indian side and he proved his mettle against South African "Bouncers", and was awarded "Man of the series".

He also scored his maiden double century against Pakistan.

After playing a successful innings he decided to put an end to the story, with his never say die spirit the Prince of Kolkata emerged as the Greatest Cricket Captain (Maharaja) of India.