Not Ayushmann Khurrana, Prosenjit Chatterjee front-runner to play Sourav Ganguly in biopic – Reports
Bengali actor Prosenjit Chatterjee has replaced Bollywood superstar Ayushmann Khurrana to play the role of former India captain Sourav Ganguly in the former Indian skipper's biopic, reported Zoom. The decision has been taken as Ayushmann is of Punjabi descent, he doesn’t look Bengali.
A source told Zoom:
“It was Khurrana who showed a keen interest in playing the Bengali cricketing legend. Now that he is no more in the picture, the producer Luv Ranjan is keen to cast a Bengali actor, most probably the Bengali superstar Prosenjit.”
According to a Mid-Day report, Ranbir Kapoor and Ayushmann Khurrana were linked to play in Sourav Ganguly’s biopic. Ayushmann had the advantage of playing as a left-handed batter.
As per a Times Now report, Prosenjit is a close friend of Ganguly and will play the latter’s role with authority. The 61-year-old has acted in over 100 films. However, things are yet to be finalized.
Sourav Ganguly’s career in numbers
Sourav Ganguly enjoyed an illustrious career from 1996 to 2008. He played 113 Tests and 311 ODIs, scoring 18,575 runs across the two formats with the help of 38 tons and 107 half-centuries. He is among six Indian players to score over 10,000 runs in ODIs. The list includes Sachin Tendulkar, Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Rahul Dravid and MS Dhoni. He also bagged 132 wickets with his medium pace.
Ganguly is one of the most successful captains for Team India. The Kolkata-born player guided India to 76 wins in 146 ODIs with a win percentage of 53.90. He is only behind Mohammad Azharuddin (90 victories in 174 games) and MS Dhoni (110 in 200). Under Ganguly’s captaincy, the Men in Blue won the 2002 Champions Trophy (jointly with Sri Lanka). He also helped his side reach the 2003 ODI World Cup final.
In Tests, Ganguly led India to 21 wins in 49 matches (15 drawn). He is only behind Dhoni (27 wins in 60 Tests) and Kohli (40 in 68).
Apart from professional cricket, Ganguly served as the 35th President of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) from October 2019 to October 2022. The 52-year-old has been chairman of the ICC Men’s Cricket Committee since 2021. He also mentors Delhi Capitals (DC) in the Indian Premier League (IPL).