India’s Most Fearless captain? Sourav Ganguly captaincy record across formats

Former Indian skipper Sourav Ganguly has been one of the most fearless and aggressive captains of the Indian cricket team. Also famous with the nickname of ‘Dada’ among fans and teammates, Ganguly instilled a fearless approach in the Indian team during his stint as the skipper.  He was the kind of a captain who led from the front on multiple occasions and instilled a fear in the opposition with his style of captaincy.  

Ganguly is known for bringing out the revolution in the Indian team where Men in Blue used to give tough competition to the opponents even at their home ground. He led India to several memorable victories, including the historic Kolkata Test against Australia in 2001, and the iconic NatWest series final against England at the Lords Cricket Ground in 2002. Under his captaincy, India also qualified for their second Cricket World Cup final in 2003. However, the Men in Blue went on to lose the title clash in Johannesburg against Australia. 

Apart from a great captain, Ganguly was also a prolific batter who made his mark in international cricket with a 100 in his debut Test against England at the iconic Lords Cricket Ground in 1996. 

Sourav Ganguly as Captain across formats

Sourav Ganguly was appointed as the captain of the Indian team after the turmoil of the match-fixing scandal in 2000. Ganguly formed a new Indian team by nurturing young talents and led India to the final of the ICC Knockout Trophy in 2000. Under his captaincy, India won the Test series against Australia in 2001 by 2-1, followed by winning the Natwest Trophy in 2002 and sharing the champions trophy with Sri Lanka in 2002. Ganguly also led the Indian team that showed its sheer dominance in the 2003 Cricket World Cup and went on to qualify for the final after 20 years. 

Let’s have a look at his captaincy records for India across formats: 

Sourav Ganugly Captaincy Records

Sourav Ganguly has been one of the most successful captains for India in the 50-overs format. Under his captaincy, India made it into the final of the 2000 ICC Knockout Trophy and shared the champions trophy with Sri Lanka in 2002 after a washed out final. Ganguly took India closer to their second ODI World Cup title in 2003, but Men in Blue lost the final to Australia by 125 runs. 

Sourav Ganguly ODI Captaincy Records

Ganguly comes in the third position in the list of Indian captains with 76 wins from 146 ODIs he captained. He comes after MS Dhoni and Mohammad Azharuddin to win most number of ODIs for India.

Sourav Ganguly Test Captaincy Records

Sourav Ganguly has also achieved great success as a Test captain of India who led Men in Blue to memorable victories in India and overseas. He became the first Indian captain to win a Test series in Pakistan as India triumphed over their arch-rivals by 2-1 in front of their home crowd in 2004. Ganguly was also the most successful overseas Test captain with 11 wins on foreign soil before Virat Kohli surpassed him with 16 wins and achieved the top spot in the list. 

Sourav Ganguly Man of the Match Awards

Apart from captaincy, Sourav Ganguly has also been one of the great batters for India across formats. He stood up on big occasions and led the Indian team from the front with his bat. With his excellence on the cricket field on multiple occasions, Ganguly has won 37 man of the match awards in his international career, including 31 in ODIs and six in Tests. 

The former cricketer comes third in the list of most Man of the Match awards by Indians in ODI format. Sachin Tendulkar and Virat Kohli are the only Indian batters ahead of him. Ganguly also hold the record of winning four consecutive Man of the Match awards, as he achieved in the in the 1997 Friendship Cup against Pakistan Canada. 

Let’s have a look at the number of Man of the Match awards won by Sourav Ganguly across different formats. 

Sourav Ganguly retired from international cricket in 2008. However, he continued to play in the Indian Premier League till 2012. He has played 113 Tests and 311 ODIs for India amassing 18,575 runs across formats. After his retirement, Ganguly went on to take significant administrative roles in cricket. He served as the President of Cricket Association of Bengal and the President of Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).