An introduction of DADA - The legend of Indian cricket team

Full Name: Sourav Chandidas Ganguly

Born: 8^th July, 1972, Kolkata

Nickname: Dada, Prince of Kolkata

Height: 5ft 11 inch

Batting Style: Left-hand Bat

Bowling Style: Right-arm medium

Major Teams: India, Asia XI, Bengal, East Zone, Glamorgan, India Under-19s, Kolkata Knight Riders, Lancashire, Northamptonshire

Test Debut: 20^th June 1996 v England

ODI Debut: 11^th January 1992 v West Indies

Sourav Ganguly is a great former Indian Captain and cricketer who bring Indian cricket to the next level. He is great fighter as he showed to the world after making a superb comeback into the team after being dropped.

He is one of the most successful India Captain winning 21 test matches out of 49 played against his captaincy. He also became first Captain to win the test series against Pakistan in Pakistan.

In his early days of cricket he got inspired by his brother Senhashis who use to play for Bengal. After making his ODI debut in 1992 against West Indies he suddenly disappear from the scene and made a strong comeback in the test series against England in 1996 where he scored a superb 131 runs in his debut test match.

Sourav Ganguly continued playing for India and has successful innings in the tournaments against Srilanka, Pakistan and Australia, winning the Man of the Match awards. During 1999 world cup in England, he and Rahul Dravid put on 373 runs partnership which is the highest partnership for any wicket in the world cup so far.

He also led India to 2003 World Cup Final, but lost the final against Australia. After the world cup his performance with the bat started to decrease and he was dropped from the team but made a strong comeback in 2006 but at the same time he got involved in a rift with Indian coach Greg Chappell and dropped from the team.

But after working hard he made a successful comeback and scored more than 1000 runs in calendar year.

However in the year 2008 he has announced retirement from International Cricket in the after scoring 85 runs in the last test match against Australia played at Nagpur. Now Ganguly plays for Bengal and is captain of Kolkata Knight Riders team.

Sourav Ganguly Cricket Statistics
Batting Records	Tests	ODI’s
Matches	113	311
Innings	188	300
Runs Scored	7212	11363
Batting Averages	42.17	41.02
Strike Rate	51.25	73.70
100s	16	22
50s	35	72
Highest Score	239	183
Bowling Records
Balls Overs Bowled	3117	4561
Wickets	32	100
Bowling Average	52.53	38.49
Economy Rate	3.23	5.06
Best Bowling	3/28	5/16
Catches	71	100

Why Mahendra Singh Dhoni not facing Media??

India could not have sent a more honest man than Gautam Gambhir to face the media on a day like this. It was a day when Alastair Cook and the England middle order sent India on a leather hunt to all corners of Edgbaston; a day when the India bowlers walked around like parched and lost men in a desert; a day when India's fielders acted like they were tired commuters waiting in the bus queue. It was only apt then that Gambhir, one of the most proud and passionate of cricketers, walked up, sat down and admitted, chin-up, that India were under pressure and England had control of the match.

"I will not lie. We are under a lot of pressure. England hold the upper hand," Gambhir said. "We have just not been able to live up to expectations or the reputation we have. We have not played good, smart cricket and we take responsibility as a team."

On Wednesday, a huge spiral of smoke gushed out of one corner of Birmingham, evidence that the vandalism and riots that have crippled normal life in several parts of England were still affecting the city. In the evening, the police shut the main roads leading in and out of the city. Just as the common man made a tentative start to the day on Thursday, India started the second day at Edgbaston circumspect, were steadily getting back to breathing easy, but then suddenly lost patience to end the day on a sombre note.

Thursday morning was dark and overcast, and it was drizzling. India would have wished the clouds had not vanished. The game was delayed by just half an hour as the rain disappeared; for the rest of the day the English crowds celebrated the sunshine, and watched Alastair Cook and Co. dish out a sumptuous display of batting. Praveen Kumar showed a lot of heart to lead the Indian attack, but with Ishant Sharma, Sreesanth and Amit Mishra looking out of sorts, an emboldened England strengthened their grip on the series.

Adding to India's woes was some casual fielding, with four chances missed. Rahul Dravid managed to let two slip through his usually secure hands while Sreesanth let one go at point off Eoin Morgan. Alastair Cook was given a reprieve when on 165, by Sachin Tendulkar at mid-on. Tendulkar failed to notice that a loopy leading edge was heading towards him and let the ball drop just a few metres in front of him. The ground fielding was poor too, typified by Virender Sehwag's reluctance to bend and interrupt a couple of drives, which fetched England some easy runs.

"There are no excuses. It is a matter of concentration," Gambhir said, before defending his fielders. "All teams drop catches; these things happen in cricket but I can't tell you exactly why it is happening." Was this really the response you would expect from a member of the reigning No.1 Test team and the freshly-crowned World Champions?

Through the series, Indian supporters have been waiting for the resilience MS Dhoni's team has shown in the past to make an appearance. There was a glimpse of it on the first day at Trent Bridge when India seem to have cast aside the disappointment of Lord's to have England reeling at 124 for 8 at tea. But Stuart Broad added 97 runs with the last two wickets to pull England back into the match. India lost the momentum quickly and lost the match.