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?
Lv 6
? asked in SportsCricket · 8 years ago

DEBATE on who is the greatest Indian captain ever:Dhoni or Ganguly?

With the win at Hyderabad,Dhoni surpasses ganguly as most successful captain for India in tests.But now lets get this straight.Who was the better greatest captain among these two?I know its not good comparing two such great legendary captains but its human nature to compare & so its inevitable.

I have some stats about both their captaincy:

•Ganguly bet the Aussie side which had so many great players like hayden,waugh,mcgrath,warne,brett lee,gilly,ponting ,etc 1-1 in australia whereas Dhoni got whitewashed 4-0 to a much depleted Aussie team.

•When ganguly was captain all teams including Zimbabwe & NZ were strong...now only England & South Africa are strong...Also 80 % of those 22 wins of Dhoni are played at home.whereas ganguly played more than 60% of his matches overseas.

•Captaincy record outside India:

Ganguly:11 wins in 28 matches & batting average 66.66

Dhoni:5 wins in 18 matches & batting average 31.85

•I repeat again,ganguly had double the batting average than Dhoni in overseas test matches & ganguly was no different,he too batted at no.5 or no.6 only.

•Dhoni won India the first T20 World Cup,but later on he couldn't even take India to semis in the next 3 world cups followed by that.And 8-0 whitewashes to England & Australia,this can need make him a best captain.

•Dhoni batting has been poor outside the subcontinent.He is yet to hit a century outside the subcontinent.He has promoted himself to bat up the order so many times but all of that have been while playing in the subcontinent.Why has he never even tinkered the batting order outside the subcontinent?

•Sachin tendulkar,VVS Laxman,Virender sehwag,Rahul dravid & Gautam gambhir-all these 5 batsman were at their best form of life during 2007-2011 & all of them average more than 50 in every calendar year in that period of 5 years in tests.Sachin himself averages 77 in the year 2010.And in the same period Dhoni became the captain of India & this exceptional average of these 5 batsmen took India to #1 ranking in tests.

•completely opposite to the situation when ganguly became captain when everything was going wrong for the country be it form or team or fans or match fixing.

azharudhin was the only man who had won 2 digit test matches for india before 2000.India was a weak team those days & ganguly suddenly comes & wins u 21 matches!!!

•Before that 2001 india v australia series cricket was a forgotten sport in India after multiple failures & match fixing stuff.That series brought back the cricket craziness in the cricket crazy country where ganguly led India to beat Australia 2-1 in the test series which includes a legendary Kolkata test.

•Dhoni is responsible for early retirement of ganguly in tests & ODIs,dravid in ODIs & Laxman in tests.He has problems with sehwag & gambhir.This is the main reason he is largely disliked by his own fellow countrymen.

•He gives repeated oppurtunities to Rohit the Maggy Sharma,Jadeja who is now Sir & others like Murali vijay,Ishanth etc.

•Ganguly promoted Laxman to bat at no.3 in the follow on enforced innings of Kolkata test 2001..,& what happened after that is now in history...

•Ganguly asked Javagal sreenath to come out of retirement & play in the 2003 World Cup.If Dhoni does that to any seniour world will end today.

•With such a strong team Dhoni had when he became captain He should had done much better as a leader,he Didnt establish the dominance teams like Australia had in that same decade.

•Ganguly captained in the era dominated by gilly, hayden warne, symonds, mcgrath, gillespie waugh, ponting, lara, shoaib, bond, flemming, flintoff, vaughan, ntini, inzy, jaysurya to name a few..n he took India from 8th to 3rd position, n dat too aftr azhar's legacy, wen d team was totally amateur...he had d potential of turning average players into great ones like-viru, yuvi ,Zaheer , irfan, nehra,, bhajji, kaif and even this Dhoni.

•Ganguly installed a aggressive attitude in the team,a spirit to win all matches.Legends like dravid & Laxman came to their prime form after he became captain.

•Not to forget that dada was forced to retire when he was top form in tests.He made odi debut in 1992 & scored just 3,insulted by azharudhin,does not get a chance for 4 years & comes back with a bang in lords 1996 with a century in test debut.That was real attitude.

•Ganguly was not just the captain of the ship,he was the man who built the ship.dada made the ship and now all players are travelling in that ship, its easy to travel as compared to build the ship.

•I don't say Dhoni is not a good captain,the ship would had sunk if Dhoni was not capable.He is trying his best & at the end of the day "player is just temporary,playing for the country is permanent" & its the country which matters.And Dhoni's contribution to the country is immense.

Update:

All these stats & analysis prove the famous saying that "ganguly is the best captain of Indian team whereas Dhoni is the captain of best Indian team".

I apologies for getting too long but I had to so as to present all the facts.And I also apologise for the Dhoni fans here but it was my opinion & I said just that.Sometimes ganguly gets less credit especially by Dhoni fans(most of them who started watching cricket after t20 started)& certainly that would annoy dada fans.

So do u agree with my opinion here?everyone has their opinion & it will be respected.According to u who was the better captain:Dhoni or ganguly ?

Update 2:

•Yet another point which can be added is that when India toured England in 2002 under ganguly's captaincy they won the triangular ODI series(natwest 2002 chasing record 326 in finals at lords considered by critics as 2nd greatest odi of all time) & tied the 4 match test series 1-1.But when India toured England under Dhoni's captaincy in 2011,they got whitewashed 4-0 in tests & lost the 5 match ODI series 3-0.

•Also not to forget the credit of taking India into finals of a World Cup after 20 years in 2003 belongs to ganguly,& its worth mentioning that the 2003 World Cup was played in South Africa(conditions not favourable to india) whereas in the 2011 World Cup,India were playing at home & always the favourites.Also ganguly was the 2nd highest run scorer of 2003 World Cup whereas Dhoni did nothing with the bat in 2011 World Cup apart from the finals.

Update 3:

MBIOF I easily have answer to all your questions.

1.Why ganguly failed to win world cups?

Lol ,in how many world cups did Dhoni captain?answer is 5 so far.And in how many world cups did ganguly lead the team as captain?answer is only 1 & he took the team to finals in that after 20 long years,& as I said that World Cup was in RSA(not favourable conditions for India).

2.Why ganguly failed to make India no.1 in tests & ODIs?

Again u can read this in answers of class of jaguar or desiboy,India were #8 when ganguly became captain,he took them till #2.When Dhoni becomes captain India were already #2,he takes them till #1 but those whitewashes against oz & eng bring them down to #5.

And as far as u saying that ganguly team had great players,no that's totally false.Again read desiboy answer,dravid & Laxman had done nothing of note before he became captain(compare their average before he become captain & after he become captain),& Sachin too was in lean patch.He installed aggressive atti

Update 4:

attitude in youngsters like Yuvraj,sehwag,Harbhajan,zaheer & dravid-laxman(who were also youngsters those days) & made them a great team with wonderful players.He converted what was an ordinary team into one of a top class competing side.No way ganguly had a strong team.He had the weakest possible team which was ranked #8 in tests. Dhoni actually had the strongest team(which was ranked #2 in tests),& as i said when dhoni became captain,those 5 Indian batsmen averaged above 50 for over 4 years & yet he couldn't achieve dominance.

Update 5:

And I agree that if Dhoni can do well as captain & win the series in South Africa tour this year & England tour next year,then he can come few more steps closer to dada,or even actually equal him.

Update 6:

MBIOF,I don't need to tell again & again that Ganguly was the second highest run scorer of 2003 World Cup only behind Sachin.Only Sachin & ganguly made the bulk of the scoring throughout the World Cup.Rest of the batsmen only played supporting role.Have u really watched the 2003 World Cup?if u have then u must have seen how ganguly saved the team in the super 6 match against Kenya when team had lost 3 wickets chasing a tough target.& who will forget ganguly's century in the semi-finals of same World Cup?

Update 7:

& u make me laugh when u say going from #8 to #2 was very easy,that's funny..and how long did India be at #1 under Dhoni?& how long was Australia #1?india must be the only team to collapse from #1 to #5 in such a short span of time(around 5 months).

Update 8:

Its a well known fact that ganguly did not have a good team.people with high degree of maturity can easily understand it.

& as u only say Dhoni has been given an extended chance to captain the team,so he has been a captain for longer period than ganguly despite 8-0 whitewash.And ganguly was dropped from the side just for losing odi series 2-4 to Pakistan & he was treated very badly at the end of his career,although a issues with greg chappel & not getting support from jealous selfish captain called "Dhoni" hurt him & he was forced to retire when he was at the peak of his test career.

Update 9:

Just go through this article where there is a point about the kind of team ganguly had when he was asked to be captain.Also the answer of desiboy,CJ tells the same.

http://www.dnaindia.com/sport/report_ms-dhoni-vs-s...

Update 10:

Just go through this article where there is a point about the kind of team ganguly had when he was asked to be captain.Also the answer of desiboy,CJ tells the same.

http://www.dnaindia.com/sport/report_ms-dhoni-vs-s...

Update 11:

Just go through this article where there is a point about the kind of team ganguly had when he was asked to be captain.Also the answer of desiboy,CJ tells the same.

http://www.dnaindia.com/sport/report_ms-dhoni-vs-s...

Update 12:

If u can't blame Dhoni for those whitewashes then there is no way you can give him credit for taking India to #1 in tests & ODIs and winning the World Cups.At the end of the day that's the fact & that's the only truth.

Update 13:

Dhoni has been given an extended run as captain of the side even after that 8-0 whitewashes & 1-2 loss to England.Thats because Dhoni has political support of BCCI chief n Srinivasan(owner of chennai super kings) & also there is no other suitable replacement as captain for him.

But when ganguly was captain,dravid probably became the player to spend longest time as vice captain,so many wanted to make Dravjd captain & also ganguly Didnt have support from selectors later on in his career.Ganguly had issues with Greg chappel,he was repeatedly dropped from the team & treated very badly.he was in top form of his test career in 2008 but selfish jealous captain dhoni never supported him & he was forced to retire.

That's another reason why Dhoni will have more wins than ganguly,he is being captain for longer period despite huge failures.

Update 14:

Dinith I agree with u that Dhoni was the man who made India overcome the habit of losing in finals(not to forget the cb series win in 2008 in Australian soil),but with that being said,that alone will not make him a better captain than ganguly because you have to consider the other factors as well including the kind of team which ganguly had to mould-during that period every player like Sachin stepped down from captaincy,no one stepped forward to take the captaincy & ganguly took them from #8 to #2 in tests.He led the team with more aggression,with an attitude to win.

And about 2011 World Cup,yes it's big winning at home,but the credit of that win should go to Sachin,Yuvraj Singh,gambhir,raina,Kohli & sehwag who all contributed with the bat in many matches & helped them go to the finals.Dhoni was the one who played no part with the bat till they reached finals.Note that here all batsmans contributed amongst runs with the bat.

Whereas in 2003,Sachin & ganguly did the bulk of scorin

Update 15:

Whereas in 2003,Sachin & ganguly did the bulk of scoring.Yuvraj & sehwag were still not so established batsmen those days,& also we had kaif & Dinesh mongia.Tendulkar made 673 runs in that World Cup averaging 61.18 with 1 century whereas ganguly made 465 runs averaging 58.12 with 3 centuries(that's captain taking responsiblity).

And ganguly took India to World Cup finals after 20 long years.When it happened in 2011 it was just after 8 years that we made to World Cup finals once again.

Update 16:

Also Dhoni as a captain has made tactically many wrong decisions & his methods in captaincy has been criticized many times.This never happened to ganguly.After winning the 2011 World Cup,dhoni became lazy,did not do anything from his side for the team & the results were displayed in those 0-8 whitewash & home series loss to England.After that his captaincy came under threat & now he is again giving his best.

Common..losing 0-8 or failing to make to semis of World Cup 3 consecutive times can't make u the best.There is some error.But I agree that he has been quite successful in ODIs,but even here ,its not so much,remember the recent 0-3 odi series defeat in England or not making it to even finals of 2012 cb series in Australia & many series after that including recent 1-2 defeat to Pakistan.

Update 17:

Steve Waugh feels ganguly is much better captain than dhoni:

http://scganguly.com/2012/01/ganguly-captain-dhoni...

Update 18:

Mbiof ganguly himself scored 3 centuries in the 2003 World Cup & led india to finals.That was caltain leading from front.Now How many centuries did Dhoni score in 2011 World Cup(or atleast half-centuries for that matter)?Now that's another real difference b/w Dhoni & ganguly.Also did Dhoni save the team when it was most required during the quarter finals against Australia or the semi finals against Pakistan?

And dhoni is yet to prove himself as a batsman outside the subcontinent.He is yet to score a 100 outside the subcontinent.All these are facts only..

Update 19:

As CJ said ganguly knew how to bring the best out of his players.CJ applied it only for sehwag & Harbhajan,I would apply it for all others including dravid,Laxman,Yuvraj,sehwag,Harbhajan ,agarkar,Zaheer khan,Nehra,sreenath,etc.Few people say he had a strong team but the truth is he brought the best out of the team he had & made it a strong team & everyone knows this.

17 Answers

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  • ?
    Lv 7
    8 years ago
    Favorite Answer

    IMO Dhoni is the better captain than Ganguli

    ▐▄▄▲▄▄▌▐▄▄▲▄▄▌▐▄▄▲▄▄▌▐▄▄▲▄▄▌

    ❶ World cups> Well leave out all the T20 world cups bcz let's face it, T20 is more about luck and it's not a real format as tests or ODIs where you need much better skills.

    So that leaves both men leading India is one world cup each where Dhoni won his one. Don't try to devalue a world cup win at home. Do you know how tough to win a world cup at home with the pressure of 600 million fans? I can assure you that if it was Ganguly who lead India in 2011 world cup he would have choked in the the final!

    Why? Let me explain......

    ❷ Ganguly has choked in many finals during the time he lead India while Dhoni won most of the finals India was in. I remember the days Ganguly lead India whenever SL plays India in a final it was all Sri Lanka! SL came victorious most of the times and it was a common scene Ganguly's disappointed face at the end of the final. Ganguly's India has never defeated SL in a final.

    But Dhoni it's a complete different story. Whenever we SL played India in a final with Dhoni in their side we got less chance of winning!

    Asia cup 2010 final India won

    2011 WC final India won

    During Ganguly's captaincy Indian team was known to lose in finals. They lost many finals. While Dhoni lead his team towards the victory in many finals

    ❸ During Ganguly's time India failed to win a test series at overseas for a long time. They couldn't even defeat Zimbabwe. But Dhoni has accomplished it several times.

    All in all I'll rate Dhoni marginally ahead of Ganguly as a leader....

    Yes 8:0 losses count as a black mark in Dhoni's career as a leader but that's all. No one can take away his accomplishments as a leader which are better than Gangu.

    Ok if you are not happy with my explanation I'll quote it like this....

    ❤Dhoni is a better ODI captain than Gangu while Gangu is a better test leader than Dhoni!❤

    No one can argue that. isn't it?

    ⋆ ⋆ ⋆ ⋆ ⋆ ⋆

    Edit:- Ok... I will stand with my above statement... Dhoni is a better leader in ODIs while Gangu was the better leader in tests. Yes I give credit for Gangu for the way he lead India in tests while Dhoni looked clueless especially in unfavorable conditions.

    ❹Dhoni averaging 100 in ODIs matches where he lead India to the victory as a leader.

    ❺You said Dhoni failed to get India to the semi finals in 3 T20 WCups but if Ganguly was the leader could he do that? We all know Gangu is not an aggressive player/batsman. He can't play T20s. Take IPL and KKR for example.

    ❻When India clashed for 8:0 every major batsman failed. Sachin, Laxman, Dravid, Sehwag..all. But when Gangu lead India to win in Australia all of the major batsmen delivered. There is a limit of what captain can do. If other batsmen fail what does he suppose to do?

    ❼You speak highly on 2003 world cup. But see this.

    -India won 5 out of 6 matches in the first round. Ok fine. But they lost to Australia by huge margin. India crushed for 120 and Aus. chased it in less than 20 overs for one wicket! Now yes Australia were invincible those days but losing like that is disastrous even without a fight.

    -And Kenya who got very lucky(nothing else) to be in super 6 and SF, surely helped India on their way through to the final. India met Kenya once in Super 6 and also in SF. If it was not Kenya who met India in SF there was a good possibility of Ganguly getting choked there as he used to get choked in KO stages.(see ❷nd point). Now see even what happened in the final. He won the toss and took a very bad decision to bowl first which cost the match. He was pressurized.

    -Ganguly also lost to Nz in the final of 2000 ICC champions trophy.

    -But Dhoni had much harder challenges in 2011 world cup. His team met 3 best teams at KO stage. Aus, Pak and SL! And he still came on top!

    ▲ Ok I have nothing but respect for Ganguli for the way he carried a broken team since 1999. Yes he inspired the team. He brought Indian team in to a whole new level. So this comparison is more like asking who is the better leader Arjuna or Mahela from a Sri Lankan. Mahela surely has the better winning % but we can't forget that it was Ranatunga who turned a minnow in to a wold champion team.

    All in all both have been part of different roles in different times. Both should be credited for team India's success in last decade. From a personal point of view I see Dhoni as a better ODI captain while Gangu's leadership skills are higher than Dhoni in tests especially at overseas....

    ▄Last Edition▄

    This is the longest question I've seen for a while my friend!

    Source(s): Ok, Don't take me wrong I am not devaluing India's performance in 2003 WC. Be it Kenya or whoever, to be in the final you have to play extremely well no doubt and it was heck of a performance by India. My point was that in 2011 Dhoni had much bigger challenges (and more importantly he came on top). There is a big difference between winning a world cup and just being in the final. Winning is the hardest thing to do (take SL/SA for example) One more thing. You said Dhoni play lot of politics while Gangu didn't. I don't think so. The reality is every captain plays some politics. Ganguly also did. That's why he had issues with Chappel. Ok after all this is highly opinion based.... Agree that Ganguly is not slow in scoring runs. I remember some of his aggressive innings. And yes he used to hit sixes often. Let's see how Dhoni does in the future. My opinion can change on that. No more space to write..
  • Anonymous
    5 years ago

    It Can Probably Not Be Something That We Have Inherited....Because Our Inheritance Consists Of Some Wrong Thoughts...Like Opposing The Birth Of A Girl Child And So On, Am Totally Not Against Our Indian Institution,Being An Indian I can Also Not Be. It Is Actually The Mindsets Of The People That Spoil Our Holy Institution. But The Actual Reasons, As To How The Indians Have Flourished To Such A Height Are Primarily: a) Our Tolerance Power; Yes, The Indians Today Living In The Prevailing Conditions Of Our Country Have Matured To Such A Height That Their Tolerance Power Can Surely Be Rated The Highest. b)The Second Reason Can ONLY Be The Little, But Yet Existing Goodness In The Hearts Of People.The Crime, Corruption, Poverty etc. Have Crushed So Many People, That Now There Are Only A Few Good People Left And That Also Only In A few Corners Of Our Countries, And THEY Are The Mean Support Due To Which Several Other Indians Are Inspired, Nourished And Led To A Successful Path In Their Lives. Yes, Our System Is Rated Corrupt At A Huge Scale, But In This Storm Of Corruption Did We Notice The Good And Efficient Workers, Still Serving Our Country? Some Of Us Didn't And Those Who Did Notice; Have SURELY Been Successful Indians, Because They Have A Patriotic Will In Their Hearts To Lead Our Very Own India To A Great Extent In This World....To Touch Up The Sky...Like No Other Country Did....

  • Anonymous
    6 years ago

    No matter what the debate is all about, what all I can say is Dhoni is the best limited overs captain, and Ganguly is the best test captain. I always had a feeling that why India fail to win in the finals after all they fight hard to make it thus far to the finals and lose in that?

    Well, in this case Dhoni did changed the course of Indian One Day cricket with his capaincy skills, batting dominance and that is the reason probably why he's called as best finisher. I agree to the fact that Ganguly made huge contributions, but what he lacks in is not having a player who can finish the game for him. Here in Dhoni's case, he himself took that role as a finisher and produced many victories for team India.

    His average in ODIs tells you all. He plays at that moment when it most matters. This is what is needed.

    When it comes to Ganguly, when I was in my 6th standard and half day schools were started because of summer and the India vs Aus matches used to start at 5 am in the morning. When I return back home day would have got completed and I had to look at the stats or highlights again early in the morning before match starts. That was the series where India scored 705, tendulkar made double, highest partnership for India in overseas between Dravid and Laxman, brilliant spell from Agarkar, and Parthiv Patel doing the keeper job at the very young age. The only excitement created in my mind was India winning the game or drawing it, not DADA's captaaincy. This doesn't mean that I dont have respect towards Ganguly, I do have great respect towards him, but those were my early days in cricket and what all I know at that time was India playing Australia, India has Ganguly, Sachin, Dravid, and Laxman.

    Later, when I realized what test cricket is all about, that actually made the difference. Ganguly did bring some revolutionary changes and put his side at least away from overseas defeats for a while. That's the greatest achievement ever to any player.

    Dhoni did the same thing in ODIs which Saurav did in TESTs for team India. Indians are not cowards outside sub-continent and proved that several times. After all, not having an century overseas, and not having the world cup under one's captaincy, both are not the same

    In my view, both captains share the equal space in history books, but Dhoni slightly ahead of Dada for his achievements in ODIs as captain and as a batsmen.

  • 6 years ago

    It would be a great debate to conclude who is a better captain. Or in other words, I can say, it is like comparing a person who has won amazing accolades such as T-20 Champions, WC champions, Champions Trophy, Test Rank 1, captain cool Dhni would be noted for his achievements, but Ganguly, what to say, Dada will remain Dada and King of hearts of Indian Cricket fans.

    I would just say, Ganguly was the one changed the Indian Team to Team India. The Men in Blue were mighy losers which greats like Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravis, Anil Kumble, Harbhajan, Javagal Srinath, Zaheer and so many. The Indian team was infected with a habit to just to appreciate Sachin even if India loses. The thrust for win was not there in Indian team. It was a literal dark phase when Ganguly took over as a captain. He had to build a team from scratch and he made it phenomenal. A opening pair of Sachin and Sehwag, Ganguly at No. 3, followed by other greats. It was under his leadership, Bhajji made a comeback, Yuvraj shined, Mohd Kaif arose, Zaheer became the Zak, Raina and even Dhoni got into helm.

    No comparison, but according to situations I would say- Ganguly was a better captain, On accolades and achievements , for sure MS is the best!!!!

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  • 8 years ago

    Ganguly inspired his players and not let their shoulders drop even in the most hostile defeats. He knew how to extract the best out of his players. Check the statistics of Dravid, Laxman, Sehwag, Kumble, Gambhir, Tendulkar, Harbhajan or for that matter even Zaheer Khan. Their best performances have been under the tenure of Ganguly's captaincy. Also, he didn't mince words when his players faltered. Dhoni also seems to have an excuse up his sleeve.

    Dhoni hasn't had a single win in Australia, England, South Africa or New Zealand. These are the countries where the conditions typically favour fast bowling, something the Indian batsmen aren't too comfortable against. To be fair to Dhoni, there is still a long way to go. it doesn't take long for statistics to change.

  • 7 years ago

    Ganguly is one of the world best captain , not in india because he is very confidence than other captain.

    i am talking at that time Ganguly is very Famous For his Captaincy , he Score More When He is Captain.

    Compare to Other Captain They Came into Pressure.

    it Not Winning World cup Means good Captain .

    what Effort HAve done by Ganguly to team came at top it is very enormous , what he try at that is very much more than now .

    at that indian team is depend on some of the player that sachin, dravid,etc. but now days any player came winning the match or take match. at that time we hoping that sachin,dravid,ganguly will came and make century then only india win.

    we can't accept from others.

    ganguly have done great efforts or successfull captain for india.

    his record as captain was great no one captain can break it

  • ?
    Lv 5
    8 years ago

    I will Blindly say , Sourav Ganguly is the greatest Indian captain ever . He showed us how to win test matches abroad .

    He is not only the captain of the ship but also he bult that ship where dhoni is now captain of that bulit ship and taking advantage .

    Dhoni will be always remembered as 0-8 loss in tests but ganguly never lost like this .

    When Dada took captaincy in 2000s India was at 8th position in Test Rankings but when he left , India was 2nd , this showed how he improved the strong team .

    Dhoni took captaincy and when India was at 2nd position , he brought it up to 1st but after white washes it dumped down to 5th .

    So Dada is best captain for India and will remain as forever even though dhoni achieves more test or ODI wins .

  • 7 years ago

    No need of debate on this. Ganguly is the Greatest captain

  • ?
    Lv 6
    8 years ago

    Sourav Ganguly did the bulk of the hard work to build Team India after the shameless episode of Azharuddin fiasco, Rahul Dravid and Anil Kumble added the much-needed boost to the growth process. Dhoni didn't had to do anything like that. Ganguly was never afraid of criticisms and he backed the players he wanted and they had full confidence in him. He was aggressive and he had vision for the team. He looked at the future and had plans for it which was clearly not present with the old captains of India.Some of the masterstroke decisions taken by Ganguly were asking VVS Laxman to bat at no.3 in the second innings of Kolkata test, asking Sehwag to open the batting in test matches, asking Srinath to come out of retirement to play in the 2003 World Cup and backing Yuvraj and Harbhajan during their tough times and make them an integral part of them team and asking Dravid to keep wickets in the One Day matches to balance the team composition.Without any doubt, Ganguly will be remembered for changing India’s face in test cricket while traveling abroad. Till 2000, India were considered as lions at home but poor travelers. But ever since Ganguly took over, the respect which Indian team demanded overseas was enormous. India moved from world no.8 to world no.2 under his captaincy.

    Ganguly injected a sense of a self-confidence inside the team, a never say die-attitude, under him the team never gave up. They team had an attitude made of hard steel; they would just not be intimidated by the foreign conditions. Dhoni on the other hand, is a bit cool, I can’t term it bad, but certainly at abroad you need to like Ganguly, a bit more aggressive. The team should have an attacking mentality at all times; this is what Ganguly used to do very well.

  • Anonymous
    7 years ago

    I am a fan and admirer of Ganguly. But I also liked MSD until WC 2011. Not because India won matches and tournaments but they used to look like a team,celebrate when a wicket falls or when they win a match .

    When Sourav was the captain,every happy moment was like a bachelor's party on and off the field and it usually brought interest in the game for everyone. Agression and Love for the game is more than anything.

    It continued even when Dravid and MSD ware captains until WC 2011.

    After this so called 0-8 whitewash overseas, sacking of players, MSD bringing personal interests into the team , cricket became very boring. Even though giving chances to new players is good, everyone on the field are more concerned about their place in the team rather than about the game. Its even more disgusting to see MSD giving more than enough chances to players he like, even if they don't perform for many matches.

    But this is definitely true....CRICKET IN INDIA NOW, IS NOT AS GOOD AS IT USED TO BE.

  • Ganguly was a pioneer and laid the foundation for Indian team to go up^ ! Ganguly was captain during a time when BCCI was still building its power in the cricketing world, but now in Dhoni's reign the Bcci ARE world cricket so dhoni gets alot of things get done for him even before he takes the charge on the field. Dhoni is luckiest captain ever , he gets the rules (e.g. DRS) bent the way they suit his team, he gets icc's FTP scheduled as such that India gets to host teams more often ~

    @MBIOF

    -"Why Ganguly failed to won world cups?"

    Ganguly took India to the finals of the world cup 2003, if the final was to be held in India like in Dhoni's case then i'm pretty sure you would not be asking this.

    -Why Ganguly failed to make India number one (in Test and Onedays)?

    Ganguly was captain in an era when the Aussie team had McGrath, Warne, Hayden, Gilly etc. Dhoni is getting to play the weakest aus team ever~

    -"Why Ganguly failed to win series overseas when he had inform Sehwag, Dravid, Laxman, Sachin, Zaheer and Kumble?"

    He did level test series in Aus 1-1 (the same grounds where dhoni went down 0-4), won test series in Pak, and won test series in England so I dont know what you are on about.

    "If MSD win one test against Australia in Australia and wins a series in England then it will put Dhoni miles ahead of Ganguly."

    - let it happen first and then you can talk.

    edit:

    just to add one more thing @MBIOF "Sourabh had inform Sehwag" you are wrong there MBIOF , actually Ganguly knew how to get the best out of Sehwag (you can also name Harbhajan for that matter) , Ganguly adjusted himself in the middle order to settle Sehwag into opening the batting with Sachin . And those are the sort of moves that make a captain a "pioneer"!

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