Busting the most know myths about India’s bravest captain Sourav Ganguly
Sourav Ganguly, the man who shaped the Indian team to become the best team across the globe is celebrating his 48th birthday. Ganguly is literally the Dada of Indian cricket at present, being the President of BCCI. Sourav Ganguly is one of the finest captains India has ever had. Apart from leading the side, he was a genius in off-side play and banked on timing to clear the ropes. Ganguly has always been in controversy throughout his career. Many rumours about him used to dominate the sports news. Some were true and some were not. Today, we will look at 5 rumours about Dada which are not true.
1. He feared fast bowlers especially Pakistani fast bowlers
Sourav Ganguly was accused of having a fear against fast bowlers especially against Pakistani bowling line up of Waqar Younis, Wasim Akram and Shoaib Akhtar. But in reality, this is not true. For the most part of his career, Sourav Ganguly used to open for the Indian team. This meant facing strike bowlers of the opponent team like Shoaib Akhtar, Wasim Akram, Shaun Pollock, Glenn McGrath, Brett Lee, Chaminda Vaas and others. Dada has scored most numbers of runs in ODI against one opponent – 1652 against Pakistan.
Read more: MS Dhoni Birthday Special: 5 times when Mahi snatched victory from the jaws of defeat
2. Sourav and Shah Rukh had a fight
After Sourav Ganguly was not bought by the Kolkata Knight Riders in the auction of the fourth season of IPL, there were rumours that Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan and Sourav Ganguly are not on good terms. But later, Sourav Ganguly in one of his interviews said that there was never a problem with King Khan, “whenever a controversy like this happens, there is always a hitch.”
3. The Prince of Kolkata didn’t carry drinks to the field
In his initial days, Sourav Ganguly was accused of having princely behaviour that included not carrying drinks in the field. Dada had later quashed these rumours and said that he never said no to carrying drinks.
4. He was favoured by Jagmohan Dalmia
Dada debuted in 1992 but due to poor performances, he was not selected for the next 4 years. When India was about to tour England in 1996, Sourav was selected. People accused Jagmohan Dalmia of favouring a Bengali mate by selecting him. Although, Sourav had performed very well in domestic cricket. Later, Sourav Ganguly scored a century in his debut Test match against England and went on to score another century in the same series.
5. Faked Injury to avoid batting in difficult Condition
Greg Chappell, most controversial coach in Indian history, in his book Fierce Focus, wrote that Sourav Ganguly wrote that Dada made excuses and retired hurt due to difficult batting conditions. Well, the person who opened in difficult conditions against mighty swing bowlers across the world will hardly make an excuse. Later, Ganguly had clarified that he had an elbow injury and he didn’t want to jeopardize the Test Match by ruining chances of him batting again.
Have a news story, an interesting write-up or simply a suggestion? Write to us at info@oneworldnews.com
