No matter how big or small a cricket fan you are, you cannot forget the Eden Gardens test match in the Border-Gavaskar trophy in 2001. Sourav Ganguly’s team beat the best team in the world in such a dramatic fashion. It was the start of the period which many regard as the golden era of Indian cricket.

India in the 90s was a struggling team shamed by match-fixing scandals and poor performances abroad. Ganguly changed that and lead India to an era of dominance at home and abroad.

Aggressive performances overseas

India won only 1 test match (against Sri Lanka) away from home in 90s out of 38. That is a stunning statistic. India were very submissive tourists. One never associated aggression with the pre-Ganguly Indian team. They weren’t expected to go overseas and play with an intent to win test matches.

All of that changed when Dada took charge. The fielding standards improved. Field settings became more attacking. The bowlers seemed more confident.

The training methodologies improved as well. Ganguly paid more attention to adapting to pitch conditions. India looked better prepared before the first match of the tour than ever before. The batsman seemed more confident about the local conditions. The bowlers knew what areas to hit.

Over the period of his captaincy India won 11 out of the 28 test matches they played outside India. This was a staggering improvement in comparison to his predecessors. Even in the ODIs the performances went up a notch. Tendulkar only managed to win 35.07% of his 73 games as captain. Ganguly improved that statistic to  53.90% out of 174 games.

A more united dressing room

Indian dressing room in the 90s wasn’t the most pleasing place to be in. A lot of backbiting and jealousy ruined the formation of any positive team spirit. That changed in the 2000s.

He took the captaincy in his late twenties. He was one of the senior members of the side when he got the big job. His persona as an aggressive and no nonsense leader gave a new face to the India cricket team.

Ganguly had immense faith in his young players. The likes of Yuvraj Singh, Harbhajan Singh, MS Dhoni, Irfan Pathan, Mohammad Kaif and Virender Sehwag blossomed under his leadership. He believed in them and gave them opportunities when no one else did. This trust reciprocated as respect towards their captain.

Tactical masterstroke after masterstroke

Dada made some great decisions during his period as captain of the team, even if it meant sacrificing his personal ambitions for the welfare of the team. He vetoed the selection of many players, and to his credit it worked for the team more often than not.

Ganguly promoted Sehwag to the opening slot against New Zealand. He went on to score his maiden international hundred of just 69 balls. Dada then sacrificed his place as an opener in ODIs to accommodate Sehwag at the top of the order despite being India’s best ODI batsman in form during that time. Sehwag was also given his Test debut on the insistence of Ganguly, despite the selectors not being very keen. The Nawab of Najafgarh didn’t disappoint his captain and scored a hundred on debut.

India were lacking a good wicketkeeper batsman at the start of the century. To keep the strength of the batting lineup intact, he asked Rahul Dravid to keep wickets. Even though this move was initially criticised, it turned to be a great decision in the next few years.

Dada convinced Javagal Srinath to continue playing till the 2003 world cup. The Indian bowling attack was very inexperienced and needed a leader. Srinath proved to be exactly that. He ended as the leading wicket taker for India with 16 wickets in the tournament.

Ganguly fought for Harbhajan Singh’s selection in the 2001 series against Australia. The off-spinner went on to have a very successful series and never looked back after that. In the same series, in Kolkata he promoted Laxman to #3 realising that his good form could win India the game, and that is exactly what happened.

Great memories

Dada’s period as captain has many joyful memories. Waving his shirt from the balcony at Lord’s after the amazing run chase in the Natwest Cup final stands out. But memories of the Eden Gardens test in 2001, dream world cup run in 2003, the famous win at Leeds in 2002, and Adelaide in 2003, beating Pakistan on their home soil in both formats of the game are special to all India supporters.

Ganguly transformed the fate of India cricket. His successors are reaping the benefits of the mentality that this guy implanted into the game. No matter what the future captains achieve, the contribution of Sourav Ganguly to Indian cricket will never be matched. It will be etched to Indian cricket forever.

Image Courtesy: Sportskeeda