Indian captaincy was the closest to my heart – Sourav Ganguly

Former Indian skipper Sourav Ganguly has revealed that the captaincy was the closest to his heart during his career. Ganguly was handed over the leadership at a tumultuous time in 2000 when there were match fixing allegations on the team. However, Ganguly was able to turn the tide and led the team with aplomb.

Ganguly was well known to get the best out of the young players and backed them to the hilt if he saw the talent in the players. The former captain gave these youngsters ample opportunities to prove their mettle.

Consequently, he was able to motivate players like Yuvraj Singh, Virender Sehwag, Zaheer Khan, Harbhajan Singh and MS Dhoni, who all went on to have great careers for the Indian team.

Ganguly led India in 49 Test matches, in which the team won 21 and lost 13 whereas 15 ended in a draw. On the other hand, Ganguly led in 146 ODI matches in which the team won 76 and lost 65 whereas there was no result in five games. Thus, he did a fine job as the leader of the side.

Ganguly recalled the golden days of his illustrious career and stated that it was an honour to lead the team for a long time. The former captain was able to get the positive results and took Indian cricket to great heights.

“Captaining was brilliant, that was my heart. Nothing compares to that. Yes, BCCI president is a huge honour,” Sourav Ganguly said while talking to Sportskeeda.

“My father gave me a cricket bat at the age of 13, I played all levels for state, played for India U-19, played for India, captained India, president of CAB, president of the Board. God’s been really kind. As a cricketer, I don’t think I could ask for more; it’s been a huge honour,” the BCCI president said.

Ganguly went to lead the team aggressively and he never backed down on the field. Furthermore, Ganguly taught the team to succeed in the foreign conditions. It was under his leadership that India grew in confidence while playing in alienate conditions.

There were some famous wins like the 2001 Test series vs Australia that India registered under the captaincy stint of Sourav Ganguly. The team started coming up with a collective effort as Ganguly knew how to get the best out of his players.

Not only did Ganguly lead with aplomb but also his numbers with the bat were outstanding especially in the ODI format. The southpaw scored 11363 runs in 311 ODI matches at an average of 41.02. The left-hander also scored 7212 runs in 113 Test matches at an average of 42.17. Ganguly scored 38 International centuries in his career.