Tuesday, October 07, 2008

Prince of Kolkata never quit, he walks away with his head held high

Sourav Ganguly Sourav Ganguly decided to walk away from International Test Cricket with his head held high. After the upcoming series with Australia, the cricket lovers all over the world will see the “God of off-side” only on TV.

I am definitely going to miss him. I still remember his bowling spells in Toronto Cricket Ground in 1998, his fighting 124 in Dhaka, and 183 against Sri Lanka. He is the most successful captain of Indian cricket team. He won 21 out of 49 tests as captain – 42% win rate. His opening partnerships with Sachin in one day matches won many matches for India and in my opinion, this opening pair was way better than the famous duo of Desmond Haynes and Gordon Greenidge.

Sourav Ganguly takes off shirt at Lords Cricket GroundAnd who can ever forget the Natwest Final at Lords in 2002. He shocked the world by taking off his shirt (ala football) after India won the finals. In fact, this was the first thought that came to my mind when I visited Lords in December 2006. Look at the photograph below – he was on the balcony on the right side.

PC050160

Video of that famous match:

1 comment:

Nimit said...

This is indeed a sad moment for Indian cricket. I loved watching him play over the years, and was very happy to see him comeback strong from his break in the middle. I'm glad he's leaving on his own terms!