INDIA

Full name -  Sourav Chandidas Ganguly
Born  -  July 8, 1972, Calcutta (now Kolkata), Bengal
Current age -  34 years 135 days
Major teams India, ACC Asian XI, Bengal, Glamorgan, Lancashire
Batting style  -  Left-hand bat
Bowling style  -  Right-arm medium
Height  -   5.11 ft
Education -  St Xavier's College
Relations Brother - Snehasish C Ganguly

Statsguru  - Test player, ODI player

BATTING AND FIELDING AVERAGES

class	mat	inns	no	runs	hs	ave	bf	sr	100	50	4s	6s	ct	st
Tests	88	140	12	5221	173	40.78	10700	48.79	12	25	670	41	59	0
ODIs	279	270	21	10123	183	40.65	13718	73.79	22	60	991	168	96	0
First-class	209	323	38	12436	200*	43.63			26	71			150	0
List A	387	373	39	13867	183	41.51			31	81			124	0
Twenty20	15	14	1	334	73	25.69	311	107.39	0	1			6	0

BOWLING AVERAGES

class	mat	balls	runs	wkts	bbi	bbm	ave	econ	sr	4	5	10
Tests	88	2516	1419	26	3/28	3/37	54.57	3.38	96.76	0	0	0
ODIs	279	4123	3470	93	5/16	5/16	37.31	5.04	44.33	1	2	0
First-class	209	9869	5588	152	6/46		36.76	3.39	64.92		4	0
List A	387	7403	5994	160	5/16	5/16	37.46	4.85	46.26	4	2	0
Twenty20	15	264	353	16	3/27	3/27	22.06	8.02	16.50	0	0	0

CAREER STATISTICE
Test debut	England v India at Lord's - Jun 20-24, 1996
Last Test	Pakistan v India at Karachi - Jan 29-Feb 2, 2006
ODI debut	India v West Indies at Brisbane - Jan 11, 1992
Last ODI	India v New Zealand at Harare - Sep 6, 2005
First-class span	1989/90 - 2006/07
List A span	1989/90 - 2006/07
Twenty20 span	2005 - 2006

Some felt he couldn't play the bouncer, others swore that he was God on the off-side; some laughed at his lack of athleticism, others took immense pride in his ability to galvanise a side. Sourav Ganguly's ability to polarise opinion led to one of the most fascinating dramas in Indian cricket. Yet, nobody can dispute that he was India's most successful Test captain - forging a winning unit from a bunch of talented, but directionless, individuals - and nobody can argue about him being one of the greatest one-day batsmen of all time. Despite being a batsman who combined grace with surgical precision in his strokeplay, his career had spluttered to a standstill before being resurrected by a scintillating hundred on debut at Lord's in 1996. Later that year, he was promoted to the top of the order in ODIs and, along with Sachin Tendulkar, formed one of the most destructive opening pairs in history.

When he took over the captaincy after the match-fixing exposes in 2000, he quickly proved to be a tough, intuitive and uncompromising leader. Under his stewardship India started winning Test matches away, and put together a splendid streak that took them all the way to the World Cup final in 2003. Later that year, in Australia, an unexpected and incandescent hundred at Brisbane set the tone for the series - Steve Waugh's last - where India fought the world's best team to a standstill. Victory in Pakistan turned him into a cult figure but instead of being a springboard for greater things, it was the peak of a slippery slope.

The beginning of the end came in 2004 at Nagpur - when his last-minute withdrawal played a part in Australia clinching the series - and things went pear shaped when his loss of personal form coincided with India's insipid ODI performances. Breaking point was reached when his differences with Greg Chappell leaked into public domain and his career was in jeopardy when India began their remarkable revival under Rahul Dravid. His gritty 30s at Karachi, when India succumbed to a humiliating defeat in early 2006, weren't enough for him to retain his spot and some felt he would never get another chance. Others, as always, thought otherwise.
Siddhartha Vaidyanathan February 2006