Captain's Corner: Sourav Ganguly vs Stephen Fleming
The Gentleman’s Game, as we know it, has evolved over the years with the sport moving forward from the Test format, played in all whites, to the coloured clothing era with ODI cricket and now T20 cricket.
India’s Sourav Ganguly and New Zealand’s Stephen Fleming predominantly played their cricket in the pre-T20 era, especially when it comes to the international stage.
While they have been excellent batsmen for their respective countries with a number of records to their name, some which have stood the test of time even after years since retiring from the sport, it is their credentials as a skipper which makes them truly stand apart from the rest.
While they both have impeccable numbers to speak of, they were distinctly different from each other with Fleming a purist of the game who displayed calm on the field of play and off it, while Ganguly was anything but peaceful, often taking the fight to the opposition with his aggressive approach.
While Fleming had very little to chose from in terms of talent at his disposal, Ganguly had an abundance of options to ponder upon while selecting his squad.
Ganguly took over the mantle of captaining the Indian Cricket Team when it was engulfed in the match-fixing scandal but came out with flying colours with a young side instilling the confidence in them to stand toe-to-toe with the opposition as well as the ability to win matches overseas.
Fleming had an eventful entry as skipper as the selectors sidelined Lee Germon for the third Test against England in February 1997, thus making him the youngest Kiwi skipper at the age of 23.
Tipped to be a future captain of the side, both Fleming and Ganguly led their respective nations with immense success, moulding the careers of many promising cricketers and making them full-fledged players of international standards.
The records speak for themselves and it is always a hard task to make a distinction between two captains who scripted an era of their own with their leadership.
Let’s take a look at the statistical comparison of Ganguly and Fleming as skippers.
1. Overall record
Having led New Zealand in 303 international matches, over a span of nearly ten years, Fleming is second only to Australia’s Ricky Ponting in the list of most international matches as captain.
Ganguly led in 196 international matches across a span of six years before his reign came to an abrupt end following the infamous altercation with Greg Chappell. He remained the most successful captain in India’s history before his feats overtaken by MS Dhoni.
Captaincy record in Tests
| Span | Matches | Won | Lost | Drawn | Win% | |
| Sourav Ganguly | 2000-2005 | 49 | 21 | 13 | 15 | 42.6% |
| Stephen Fleming | 1997-2006 | 80 | 28 | 27 | 25 | 35 |
Captaincy record in ODI’s
| Span | Matches | Won | Lost | Tied | NR | Win% | |
| Sourav Ganguly | 1999-2005 | 147 | 76 | 66 | 0 | 5 | 53.52 |
| Stephen Fleming | 1997-2007 | 218 | 98 | 106 | 1 | 13 | 48.04 |
While Fleming has led New Zealand in 5 T20Is as well, Ganguly did not feature at all in a T20I for India, let alone lead in one.
Captaincy record in T20Is
| Span | Matches | Won | Lost | Win% | |
| Stephen Fleming | 2005-2006 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 60 |
Overall captaincy record
| Matches | Won | Lost | Tied | Draw | NR | Win% | |
| Sourav Ganguly | 196 | 97 | 79 | NIL | 15 | 5 | 49.48 |
| Stephen Fleming | 303 | 128 | 135 | 2 | 25 | 13 | 42.24 |