ABOUT SOURAV GANGULY

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IN CRICKET- MY FAVORITE STAR IS SOURAV GANGULY.
HE WAS BORN ON 08-JULY-1973,AT CALCUTTA,HE IS A LEFT HAND BATS MAN.HIS BOWLING RIGHT ARM MEDIUM,HIS ODI DEBUT: INDIA vs WEST INDIES AT BRISBANE,WORLD SERIES,1991/92,TEST DEBUT: INDIA vs ENGLAND AT LORD'S, 2nd TEST,1996....

ABOUT HIS ODI DBUTE:

Ganguly's Test Record: Batting

In tests- 35, Inns- 60,No- 5, Runs- 2505, Highest- 173 , Avg- 45.54, 100's- 7 ,50's-12,ct/st- 20

GANGULY SAY'S
1.Double duck for Ganguly 
The Indian skipper Sourav Ganguly is probably missing the sun. His two ducks - in the Benson & Hedges one-day tournament and on his county debut - are ample testimony to how the Indian player loves warm weather on his back for his bat to speak. Ganguly has played his media cards also pretty well. He has not said anything out of line on the match-fixing scandal although that was the hot topic when he arrived in Lancashire with runs on his mind and an eye on county experience to hone his considerable batting skills. April is not the best time to play cricket in England. Even May is usually very cold and two sweaters - a long sleeved one on top of one of short sleeves - is the norm. Not all cricketers can warm up to their task in such outlandish clothing for sport unless he were getting ready to put his weight behind a tackle in grid iron football. It was in June and July that Ganguly bloomed when he went to England with India in 1996. He was not in the unsuccessful Indian World Cup squad and he was something of a surprise selection for the tour. He made his way into the XI for the second Test at Lord's thanks to Navjot Sidhu walking out on his team during the Texaco Series. Ganguly has come a long way since finding English conditions suit his batting. The slow seaming pitches were no different from those that you get in Calcutta and Ganguly's game flourished in good conditions and, needless to say, when the sun was shining on his back and his bat. The county circuit is a different ball game. And cricket is invariably a bowler's game in April and May and not until conditions improve in the English summer do the batsmen come into their own. So Ganguly will have to wait for the runs to flow. Until then, he will have to hide the misery of sitting out in cold dressing rooms. He was out without offering a shot to Mark Ealham to the first ball he faced for his county in the championship proper. That is not really the best way to go but the left hander does have this tendency to offer his pad as his first line of defence very early in his innings. He has been known to go first ball in Test cricket too in the same fashion. A duck for Lancashire is, somehow, not such a great tragedy as it may be when he bats for India. If he does get a duck for India, then the scurrilous may even see evil designs behind it. These are the times we live in. Let us hope poor Ganguly settles fast and gets ticking over so that the fair name of Indian batting does not get tarnished further. A witness to Ganguly's dismissal was Rahul Dravid who was making his first class debut for Kent on their home ground in Canterbury. There have been some remarkable coincidences in the careers of the two who were also associated in a world record stand in the World Cup last year against Sri Lanka at Taunton. And now they have made their county appearances in the same match but for different counties.

                                                                               

2.Ganguly included in Asian Indian skipper Sourav Ganguly will replace the injured Pakistan opener Saeed Anwar in the Asian XI team that will play a limited-overs match against a Rest of the World XI at Dhaka on April 8. The match is part of a week long celebration of the Cricket Week announced by the International Cricket Council. ICC president Jagmohan Dalmiya told that Test cricket's highest wicket-taker Courtney Walsh of the West Indies will come in place of compatriot Curtly Ambrose in the Rest of the World side. The World side will have Zimbabwe's Andy Flower instead of Brian Lara, while South African Nantie Hayward and English spinner Phil Tufnell will replace Allan Donald and Deniel Vettori respectively. The prize money for the winning team is US $ 3000, apart from which there will cash award worth US $ 1000 each for the best batsman, bowler and the fielder. The teams: Asian XI: Wasim Akram (captain), Sanath Jayasuriya (vice captain), Sourav Ganguly, Sachin Tendulkar, Aravinda de Silva, Ajay Jadeja, Robin Singh, Moin Khan, Anil Kumble, Muthiah Muralitharan< Chamida Vaas and Abdur Razzaq. Rest of the World XI: Mark Waugh (captain), Chris Cairns (vice captain), Andy Flower, Michael Bevan, Neil Johnson, Adam Gilchrist, Jacques Kallis, Lance Klusener, Phil Tufnell, Courtney Walsh, Natie Hayward and Andrew Caddick.

                                                                                                           
3.It's a good start, says Ganguly
CALCUTTA : "I told the team at the break that don't took at the target as 300, but as six per over. That will make the task easier," said Sourav Ganguly, the new man at the helm of Indian cricket. It came more as a relief for the beleaguered side as they returned to winning ways in the very first match under the Prince of Calcutta. 
The odds were certainly stacked against Sourav's men as with a record of being poor chasers, they were up against a 300-plus total by South Africa. "However, it was an excellent wicket to bat on and when I and Sachin got out to open, the plan was not to let the asking rate climb up at any stage of the game," the star cricketer told TOINS over telephone from his hotel room at Kochi. 
The Nehru Stadium being a good 15 kms away from the city, it was well into evening when the teams could finally get back to the hotel. Sounding tired but happy, a pragmatic Ganguly was not keen to read much into a single win : "All I would say that it's a good start. It's still early to say if this is the start of a turnaround." 
There was much controversy over the manner of Ganguly's dismissal, and the skipper was seen nodding his head disapprovingly after he was declared caught behind. Several hours a look at the TV replay later, the stylish southpaw seemed to have changed his views : "There was a faint nick and as such, I think it was a good decision !" 
The new skipper was all praise for the role of Rahul Dravid as a bowler, who lulled the dangerman Lance Klusener to a soft dismissal. "It's a plus for us if a front ranking batsman like Rahul can deliver once in a while as a bowler. We can even look at him as an allrounder in future," said Ganguly, who is being accompanied by his wife Dona at a moment of personal pride. 
Amid all the adulation, he was still keen to find out how Calcutta has reacted to the win today. Come Friday, he will get a taste of it as the Indian squad is touching down here in the evening en route to their departure for Jamshedpur for the next one-dayer. 
Interestingly, the travel plan of both teams as provided by Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) says that while the visitors would be flying out to the steel city by a chartered flight, the Indian team is scheduled to travel by Ispat Express on Saturday morning to Jamshedpur. 
"Nothing doing, we will travel to Jamshedpur by flight only. It's a crazy idea to have the likes of Sachin & Azhar travel by train," he snapped back. The Maharaj has indeed started calling the shots, both on and off the field. 
                                                                                                     
4.Allegations against Kapil worry Ganguly 
MUMBAI: Indian skipper Sourav Ganguly feels the allegations made by former cricket board chief Inderjit Singh Bindra against national team coach Kapil Dev are bound to put more pressure on the team during the May 28-June 7 Asia Cup in Dhaka. 
Ganguly, now in England playing Lancashire county, has talked to a cricket website from Manchester on the allegations and their likely impact on the team. 
"Maybe yes. At least mentally, it'll be tougher. In any international match, there is always this intense pressure of performing according to the country's expectation. Now, this thing will add more pressure," he has told the website. 
This is at variance with the view of selection committee chairman Chandu Borde and cricket board secretary Jaywant Lele who said after choosing the 25 probables for the Asia Cup in Mumbai that the team morale is not likely to be affected by the allegations. 
The man in the eye of the storm, Kapil Dev, has conveyed to the board his intention of going to Dhaka as the team's coach, putting at rest speculation that he may step down in the wake of the allegations. 
Ganguly has expressed his anguish at the trend of persons going to the media and making allegations of match-fixing instead of going to the authority concerned and showing their evidence. 
``Go to the authority concerned, show your evidence. Why they are going to the media without any proof to support their allegations? This trend should be stopped immediately,'' Ganguly has been quoted as saying by the website to a pointed query on the matter. 
The skipper expressed his surprise at the non-inclusion of Karnataka seamer Venkatesh Prasad in the list of 25 probables chosen by the selectors for the Dhaka match when asked whether he was satisfied with the selected players. 
``Yes, but I was a little surprised with the omission of Venky. He bowled well in Sharjah too,'' the Bengal stalwart said. 
About the difficulties in adjusting from the cold English summer to the hot and humid conditions expected in Dhaka, Ganguly said he would not face any problems as he had been brought up under such conditions. ``Let me reach there. I'll adapt sooner than any other person will. I'm confident about that.'' 
Ganguly feels the team has to improve its performance. ``If it were to happen, there should be a complete stoppage of such allegations.'' 
``I know every member of the national side is thinking on the same lines. And to assist us, let there be a full stop to these immature comments and baseless allegations. These not only affect the (alleged) cricketer, but also the national team. It's bad for the credibility of the game too,'' he said. (PTI)
5.India's tour of England in 1996 will be remembered for Saurav Ganguly's debut at Lord's. Ganguly took the crease as the ridiculed 'quota cricketer', but 301 balls later, the stylish left-hander had scored 131 runs and demolished his detractors. With a 50-plus batting average in Tests, he has emerged with Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid as the mainstay of the Indian batting order. In this exclusive column, the Prince of Calcutta speaks his mind out as he begins a new innings as Captain of the Indian cricket team

5.Skipper Ganguly presides over two wins

Saurav Ganguly began his captaincy on a winning note, as India defeated South Africa in the first two one-day internationals played in Kochi and Jamshedpur on March 9 and 12.

The first match in Kochi was embroiled in controversy because of unprofessional umpiring. On a batting track, South Africa elected to bat after winning the toss and piled up a huge total of 301 for three wickets.

Openers Gary Kirsten and Herschelle Gibbs put on 235 for the first wicket, both hitting centuries. In the absence of Javagal Srinath and Venkatesh Prasad, India's bowling attack was weakened, but this gave Rahul Dravid a chance to display his bowling skills and take two wickets.

Ajay Jadeja spearheaded the Indian batting, scoring 92, after the first four wickets fell cheaply. Mohammed Azharuddin and Robin Singh provided adequate support, each scoring 42.

The last over in the match received much criticism for its umpirical decisions. Umpire M.R. Singh no-balled Shaun Pollock, though the television replay showed otherwise. India needed four runs from as many deliveries, as Anil Kumble steered Pollock to third man for three runs. But umpire Singh mistakenly signaled a four, and both teams came off the field.

After the third umpire confirmed the error, match referee Raman Subba Row ordered the teams back on to the pitch. Robin Singh then scored the required run, giving India victory with two balls to spare. Jadeja was deservingly named Man of the Match.

India went into the second match in Jamshedpur hoping to reverse their record of never winning at the venue. South Africa were all out for 199, as the Indian bowlers led by Sunil Joshi had the tourists in trouble right from the beginning.

Skipper Hansie Cronje was the lone batsman to offer any resistance, scoring 71. Samir Dighe, in danger of losing his place in the side after a lackluster performance in the first match, came good, as he took three catches and pulled off a stumping.

Joshi was the pick of the Indian bowlers, scalping four wickets, including two in a single over. Ajit Agarkar made amends for his expensive bowling in the first one-dayer, taking three wickets.

Ganguly scored his third one-day century of the year and guided the team to its second successive victory. He was named Man of the Match, though Joshi was perhaps more crucial to the win, having restricted the visitors to a manageable total.

The teams go into the third match with India aiming to wrap up the series, ahead of the upcoming limited-overs tournament in Sharjah against South Africa and Pakistan.That will be the real test of Ganguly's captaincy.