Sourav Ganguly is arguably the greatest ever left-handed batsmen to play for India in ODIs. He was a great match-winner and was considered to be one of the best ODI batsmen of his era. With his trademark sixes against spinners and cover drives against pacers, he was one of the most stylish batsmen of his generation.
Ganguly as a captain, always lead team India by example. During a match with England, India’s batting collapsed enormously. He scored an outstanding 90 by hitting five 4s and three 6s. This helped India reach a decent total of 204. He used his cricketing brains to perform the bowling changes and India bowled England out for 181. India won the match by 23 runs and Ganguly became the Man of the Match.
In a match against Pakistan, in 1997-98 in Toronto, Ganguly scored a massive match-winning performance of 96. He smashed bowlers like Sahid Afridi, Aaquib Javed, and Azhar Mahmood all across the stadium. While bowling also, he picked up two wickets for just 33 runs at an economy of 3.3.
Back in the mid-90s, India and Pakistan contested for the annual Sahara Cup in chilly Toronto. While others struggled, Ganguly excelled. In the 1997 Sahara Cup, he was the star with both bat and ball. He scored 222 runs at 55.50 and claimed 15 wickets at 10.66, bagging four consecutive man-of-the-match awards. In the fourth One-Day International (ODI) of the series, India had to chase a target of 160 from 26 overs. In seaming conditions, where other batsmen struggled, Ganguly, opening the batting, stroked an unbeaten 75 from 75-balls to see India home as they went up 4-0 in the series against arch-rivals Pakistan.
Ganguly has won numerous matches single-handedly with his magical batting.
