[Watch] Throwback to when Graham Thorpe dismissed Sourav Ganguly in an ODI in 1996
Former England cricketer Graham Thorpe was renowned for his resiliant batting and solid techniqe during his illastrious international career. Yet, he also rolled his arm over with the ball sparingly and on one of those occasions, surprisngly dismissed Indian legend Sourav Ganguly.
It was the final ODI of the three-match series during India's tour of England with the hosts leading 1-0. India won the toss and elected to bat first but lost ace batter Sachin Tendulkar for only one run.
Ganguly walked in at No.3 and stitched together a 92-run partnership with Vikram Rathour before Thorpe entered the attack for his part-time medium-pacers. The Surrey-born cricketer dismissed Rathour caught at the deep before getting the better of Ganguly.
He deceived the southpaw with a wide down the leg side as Ganguly missed the flick and lost balance to be stumped by wicketkeeper Alec Stewart for 46.
Here is the video of Graham Thrope's wickets with Ganguly's being the second at [0:47]:
Incidentally, those were the only two wickets Thorpe picked up in his 12-year England career, as he finished with figures of 2/15 in four overs.
It resulted in England restricting India to 236/4 in their 50 overs and chasing the score down in the penultimate over to win the series 2-0. In 182 matches played across Tests and ODIs during his international career, Thorpe bowled 43 overs in total.
Graham Thorpe tragiacally died at age 55
Unfortunately, Graham Thorpe died at age 55 after suffering from serious illness since 2022 on August 5.
He remains one of England's all-time greats in Tests with over 6,700 runs at an average of 44.66 and 16 centuries in 100 games. Thorpe also enjoyed an excellent run in ODIs, scoring 2,380 runs at an average of over 37 in 82 outings.
The left-handed batter played in the 1996 and 1999 ODI World Cups and was undoubdetly England's best batter with an average of over 54 across the two tournaments in 11 matches.
Following his England career, Thorpe was both the side's batting coach and assistant coach, including playing a key role as one of the backroom staffs in their 2019 ODI World Cup triumph.
It led to him landing a head coaching role with Afghanistan in early 2022 before his illness resuledt in him not starting his role.
Several former and present cricketers across social media mourned Graham Thorpe's death with heartfelt tributes and wishes.