MS Dhoni pips Sourav Ganguly as India's best ever captain in Star Sports' special survey

Sourav Ganguly and MS Dhoni are arguably two of India's most accomplished Indian captains. The BCCI President brought about a revolution in the Indian team and changed the way the game was played with his aggressive captaincy. Sourav Ganguly also captained India and reorganised the team after the match-fixing scandal in the 2000s and build a fearless brand of Indian cricket which transformed Indian cricket. Team India climbed up to No.2 position in the ICC Test and ODI rankings under Sourav Ganguly at one point of time. India also won ICC Champions Trophy in 2002 (joint-winners) and made it to the final of the 2003 World Cup with Sourav Ganguly at the helm.

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MS Dhoni edges past Sourav Ganguly as India's best captain by the barest of margins

On the other hand, MS Dhoni is known for his astute understanding of the game. The CSK captain took Indian cricket to new levels and made the Indian team a force to be reckoned with in world cricket. MS Dhoni is the only captain in the world to have all three ICC trophies in his cabinet (2007 T20 World Cup, 2011 Cricket World Cup, 2013 Champions Trophy). He also led the Indian team to the much-desired No.1 spot in the world Test rankings.

Besides being two of the most successful Indian captains, another common factor between the two is the proximity in their birthdays. The CSK skipper celebrates his birthday on July 7 while Sourav Ganguly celebrates it a day later on July 8. To commemorate the birthdays of both the veterans, Star Sports conducted a survey where several aspects of their leadership were taken into consideration.

When the results came out, it was the CSK star who beat the BCCI President by the barest of margins. MS Dhoni's batting skills proved out to be the ultimate difference-maker. In each category, an average score was calculated from each panel members’ votes. After the results of each were totalled together, the CSK captain was ahead by less than half a point.

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These eight categories were:

1. Test captaincy record (Home)
2. Test captaincy record (Away)
3. Captaincy record (Test and ODI)
4. Teams they inherited and how they were transformed (Across formats)
5. Teams they left behind (Across formats)
6. Batting record as captain (Test and ODI)
7. Major Achievements (Across formats)
8. Overall impact as captain

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The results were as follows:

1. Away Test wins: Sourav Ganguly (7.2) beats MS Dhoni (5.5)
2. ODI captaincy: MS Dhoni (8.1) beats Sourav Ganguly (6.8)
3. Transforming teams: Sourav Ganguly (8.6) beats MS Dhoni (7.3)
4. Teams left behind: Sourav Ganguly (7.8) beats MS Dhoni (7.6)
5. Achievements as a captain: MS Dhoni (8.5) beats Sourav Ganguly (7.2)
6. Batting record as captain: MS Dhoni (7.8) beats Sourav Ganguly (7.4)
7. Overall impact: Sourav Ganguly (8.1) beats MS Dhoni (7.9)

Former cricketers like Graeme Smith, Kumar Sangakkara, Gautam Gambhir, Irfan Pathan and Kris Srikkanth were the players who voted in the survey. Dhoni’s total came to 60.9, only 0.4 points more than Ganguly’s 60.5. 

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IMAGE COURTESY: TWITTER/ TRUEMAHESHFANS/ AP