Sourav Ganguly birthday: Relive MS Dhoni's tribute in his last Test match; watch video

Former cricketer Sourav Ganguly is widely regarded as one of greatest Indian captains of all time. Having made his international debut in January 1992 against West Indies, he was appointed as Indian captain in 2000 and he remained attached to role till 2005. veteran batsman retired from international cricket with a Test match against Australia at Nagpur in vember 2008.

n Indian skipper MS Dhoni famously assigned captaincy reign to outgoing legend during final moments of his illustrious career. To commemorate occasion of Sourav Ganguly birthday, here is a look at special tribute bestowed upon him by ar legendary captain MS Dhoni back in 2008.

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Sourav Ganguly birthday: A touching tribute by MS Dhoni for outgoing former skipper

India hosted Australia in fourth and final Test match of 2008 Border-Gavaskar Trophy series at Nagpur. match was also Sourav Ganguly’s final appearance for Team India, with his former teammate Anil Kumble anuncing his own retirement earlier that same week in Delhi. During final sts of Nagpur Test, India’s newly appointed Test captain MS Dhoni offered Ganguly a chance to lead his national side again after having a friendly chat with him on field.

While 113-Test veteran seemed hesitant at first, he accepted offer and took Indian fans on a stalgic route for 2 overs with his aggressive field placements and rotation of bowlers. India eventually won match by 172 runs to give Sourav Ganguly a fitting farewell. A few years later, former captain chronicled events of his final Test in his book ‘A Century is t Eugh’. He wrote that MS Dhoni approached him and offered him captaincy earlier on that day as well. He revealed that he rejected offer at first but he could t refuse MS Dhoni when wicketkeeper approached him second time later that same day.

Sourav Ganguly birthday: Cricketer’s outgoing captaincy stint, watch video

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Sourav Ganguly stats and BCCI Presidency

Since his ODI debut in 1992, Sourav Ganguly went on to enjoy a glorious 16-year journey with Indian cricket. In all, he played 113 Tests and 311 ODIs for country. Sourav Ganguly stats section composes of 7,212 Test runs and 11,363 ODIs runs before he anunced his retirement in 2008. He scored 38 centuries across all formats and is sixth on list of all-time international century-makers by Indians.

Interestingly, India never lost a Test match whenever Ganguly scored a Test hundred. Coming to Sourav Ganguly stats in terms of captaincy, India won 21 Tests in 49 matches between 2000 and 2005. In ODIs, he led ‘Men in Blue’ in 146 matches to register 76 wins.

Even after retirement, Sourav Ganguly has been in continuous association with game, albeit as a cricket administrator. He is currently serving as President of Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) after he was appointed to role in October 2019. Previously, Sourav Ganguly was President of Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) between 2015 and 2019.

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Im credit: Screenshot from Subu Sastry Twitter