Sourav Ganguly smashes epic 144 at The Gabba vs Australia on December 7, 2003: WATCH

Former cricketer Sourav Ganguly is widely regarded as one of the finest Indian captains of all time. A powerhouse batsman in ODIs, the cricketer-turned-administrator was no stranger to plundering runs in the game’s purest format as well. While many dubbed short-pitched deliveries as the ultimate kryptonite for the ‘Bengal Tiger’, the cricketer himself shrugged off those claims in style by smacking one of his career’s magnum opus Test knocks on December 7, 2003 against the then world champions and World No.1 Test side Australia.  

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A revisit to Sourav Ganguly’s Gabba epic from 17 Australian summers ago

The Indian team, under the leadership of Sourav Ganguly, toured Down Under in 2003-04 for a gruelling Australian summer of international cricket. In the opening Test at Brisbane’s The Gabba itself, the Indian skipper flayed the Australian attack with an imperial 144-run knock. His innings was littered with 18 glorious boundaries as he took on the short-ball challenge as posed by the Australian pacers.

The innings is still regarded as one of Sourav Ganguly’s all-time best in Tests, even though the elegant left-hander slammed his highest Test score a few years later against Pakistan (239 runs). On the occasion of the 17th anniversary of Ganguly’s Gabba epic, here is a look at some of the best bits from his innings.

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December 7, 2003: The day when Sourav Ganguly pounded Australia with 144 punches, watch video

A look into Sourav Ganguly career stats

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 the country. The Sourav Ganguly career stats section composes of 7,212 Test runs and 11,363 ODIs runs before he announced his retirement in 2008. He scored 38 centuries across all formats and is sixth on the list of all-time international century-makers by Indians.

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

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India vs Australia 2020: India vs Australia Test squad

The Indian team is currently on another tour to Australia, this time to defend their Border-Gavaskar Trophy honours. Under the leadership of Virat Kohli, the ‘Men in Blue’ lost the ODIs 1-2 but won the T20I series with a game to spare. Here is a look at the entire India vs Australia Test squad for the upcoming four-match series.

India Test squad: Virat Kohli (c) (first Test only), Ajinkya Rahane (vice-captain), Rohit Sharma, Mayank Agarwal, Prithvi Shaw, KL Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara, Hanuma Vihari, Shubman Gill, Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Rishabh Pant (wk), Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Umesh Yadav, Navdeep Saini, Kuldeep Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin and Mohammed Siraj.

Australia Test squad: Tim Paine (c), Sean Abbott, Joe Burns, Pat Cummins, Cameron Green, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Michael Neser, James Pattinson, Will Pucovski, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Mitchell Swepson, Matthew Wade and David Warner.

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Image source: cricket.com.au