5 decisions by Dhoni and Ganguly that changed the fate of Indian cricket
India have produced some wonderful leaders over the years. But if we talk about Indian captains, the discussion will be incomplete if we don't mention the names of MS Dhoni and Sourav Ganguly.
Ganguly was aggressive by nature, and is widely regarded as one of finest to lead the Indian cricket team. He took over the team after the 2000 match-fixing saga and transformed it completely.
Ganguly always backed his players. The likes of Zaheer Khan, Harbhajan Singh, Ashish Nehra, Virender Sehwag, Yuvraj Singh and Mohammad Kaif were an integral part of Ganguly's Indian team.
On the other hand, Dhoni was known for his cool nature and he created a dynamic Indian team. He is the only captain to win all the three major ICC trophies. Winning the 2011 World Cup was the highest point of his captaincy career, and he also took the Indian team to the No. 1 ranking in both Tests and ODIs.
These two legends made some crucial decisions which changed the fate of the Indian cricket forever. Here is a look at five of those:
#1 Ganguly asking Sehwag to open the innings
Virender Sehwag made his Test debut in 2001 against South Africa. He batted at number six and scored a century in his debut innings.
In 2002, Ganguly's Indian team traveled to England to play a four-match Test series. It was then that he made a big decision which surprised everyone - he asked Sehwag to open the innings.
Sehwag smashed 84 runs in 96 balls in his first Test innings as an opener. There was no looking back after that.
He scored a century in the next Test too, at Trent Bridge. Sehwag completely changed the nature of Test cricket with his aggressive batting, and brought many fans back to the format.
His records as Test opener are mind-blowing. He became the first Indian to score a triple century in Test history, and is also one of the few cricketers to have scored two triple centuries.
Sehwag scored 250+ four times, which is the most by anyone in Test cricket history. He slammed 22 centuries in 170 innings as a Test opener.
We would have missed out on such an entertainer if Ganguly had not asked him to open in Tests in 2002.