GANGULY PROFILE

Full Name: Sourav Chandidas Ganguly
Born: July 8, 1972, Kolkata, Bengal
Major teams: India, Bengal, Glamorgan, Lancashire
Batting style: Left-hand bat
Bowling style: Right-arm medium

Achievements:Most number of Test victories as India captain; more than 10,000 runs in ODI cricket; highest ODI score by an Indian in World Cup; first Indian captain to win a Test series in Pakistan; India captain in most number of Tests

Sourav Ganguly made his ODI debut against Australia in India's tour of Australia in 1992 but a lackluster show ensured that he kept toiling in the domestic circuit for another four years. In 1996, when he was recalled to the national side for a Test series in England, Ganguly took the cricket world by storm with consecutive centuries in his first two Tests.

Following the heroics in England, Ganguly cemented his place in the One Day side and, along with Sachin Tendulkar, formed one of the most destructive opening pairs in history. Ganguly quickly made a name for himself in the shorter version of the game and his audacious strokeplay played perfect foil to Tendulkar's skills.

When Saurav Ganguly took over the reins of the Indian team in 2000, he proved to be an assertive and uncompromising skipper. The aggressive and no-nonsense attitude of the captain encouraged a young Indian team to believe in themselves and deliver the goods. He went to become India's most successful captain with India winning a number of Test matches abroad.

Ganguly is widely credited with grooming a bunch of talented youngsters like Yuvraj Singh, Virender Sehwag and Harbhajan Singh. Ganguly led India all the way to the World Cup final in 2003 and later that year, in Australia, an imperious hundred at Brisbane set the tone for the series-where India gave the mighty Aussies a good run for their money.