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Sourav Ganguly vs Graeme Smith: A statistical comparison

The battle of the southpaws

Cricket is not just a sport, but a passion for billions of fans across the globe. And every time there comes a player who compels them to glorify their presence, he is welcomed with cheers. A player steps on the field and assures the spectators that what they will see one of the finest displays of cricket. The players give their best and eventually some of them grow and become celebrated cricketers by the end of their career.

Over the years, we have also seen such cricketers in the role of skippers for their international team. More than their skills as a player, it depended upon their ability to lead. The selection of the players is highly dependent on the captains. Although the captaincy is an honourable post, it has its share of hitches.

Apart from playing a role of the captain, they also have an another facet. While the players have to only manage their own individuality. We expect even more from a leader. They are judged not only be their individual performance on the field but also by the team’s performance. We look up to them to set an example for others to follow.

We have seen players who gave brilliant performances whilst also leading their nation to glory. Some of them have gone on to be the most successful captains because they proved their talent on the field and led the side with their impeccable leaderships skills. Here, we will compare two such fantastic players.

Sourav Ganguly, the former Indian captain, is one of the most respected cricketers. When his bat roared, not many bowlers could counter his strokes. He created records for himself and gave some memorable performances, leading Indian to victory by the will of his willow. 

After having mesmerised everyone with his skills, he was responsible for leading the Indian Cricket team. Taking over in the midst of the match-fixing crisis, Ganguly moulded the players into what we today know as Team India.

On the other hand, Graeme Smith, the former captain of South Africa is one of the most lauded players. Hailed as one of the best players from South Africa, Smith has had an incredible journey in cricket. He astonished the world with his batting abilities and soon took over the team following their debacle in the 2003 World Cup. He is now the most successful captain in the world.

These two men were one of a kind both as a player and as a captain. But it's a sport after all and between two players, one will always be there. Cricket being a game of statistics, here we have compared the two based on their career figures.

Ganguly or Smith? Read on to decide.

#1 Runs

Graeme Smith batting.jpg
Graeme Smith is one of the finest openers in South African history

Both Ganguly and Smith are known for their aggressive batting. The duo has played crucial match-winning innings for their respective teams. 

Tests

In Tests, Smith leads the race. With a strike rate of 59.67, he scored a total of 9265 runs in 205 innings. In 2003, during the team's England tour, he scored 259  which is the highest score made by a foreigner at Lord's. 

Well, Ganguly is not too far behind. He maintained a strike rate of 51.27 in is Test career and made a total of 7,212 runs. 

Overall Test Figures
 MathesInningsRunsHighest Score100s50s
Graeme Smith11720592662772738
Sourav Ganguly11318872122391635

ODI Cricket

If Smith leads in Tests, Ganguly ruled ODIs. This left-handed batsman was a nightmare to the bowlers when it came to ODIs. He scored 183 runs against Sri Lanka in 1999 which is also his highest score.

Overall ODI Figures
 MathesInningsRunsHighest Score100s50s
Graeme Smith19719469891411047
Sourav Ganguly311300113631832272

# 2 Average

 

Both Ganguly and Smith belong to that class of batsmen for whom the audience applauded because of their spectacular batting skills. Amidst building high scores and creating records, both of them maintained noteworthy batting averages in Tests as well as ODIs. However, Smith again leads the table when it comes to Tests but Ganguly has the crown when it is about ODIs (by a considerable margin). 

Overall Bating Averages
 TestsODIs
Graeme Smith48.2537.98
Sourav Ganguly42.1741.05

# 3 Matches won as captains

Graeme Smith captain
No one has won as many Tests as captain as Graeme Smith

When a player becomes the captain, he inculcates his personal style of playing into the team. Ganguly played a major role in creating a young team which started taking the international matches with a whole new sense of competition. He changed the way the world saw the Indian Cricket team.

Smith, too brought his aggression into his team and made it more expansive. He is, in fact, the most successful Test captain in the history of Cricket.

Tests

Smith is the most successful Test captain in the history of Cricket in terms of the total matches won. Sourav Ganguly, meanwhile, is in 16th position on the list.

Test Matches as Captain
 MatchesWonLostDrawnWin %
Graeme Smith10853282749.07%
Sourav Ganguly4921131542.6%

ODIs

When it comes to this format, the players have a neck-to-neck competition where Smith is just one rank ahead of Ganguly being 7th and 8th respectively on the list of the most successful ODI captains.

ODIs as captain
 MatchesWonLostTiedNRWin%
Graeme Smith15092511664.23%
Sourav Ganguly1477666553.52%

# 4 Highest individual scores

Sourav Ganguly Taunton.jpg
Sourav Ganguly’s knock of 183 at Taunton is one of the highest scores in a World Cup game

Sourav Ganguly and Graeme Smith are known for their aggressive batting. Irrespective of the style of bowling, the two knew the best answers for them. They made centuries and helped their team construct high targets and chase them down. Here, the top five scores by each of them in the Test and ODI formats have been listed below.

Tests

5 best Test innings by Sourav Ganguly
ScoreInningsAgainstVenueResult
2391PakistanHomeDraw
1732Sri LankaHome Draw
1472Sri LankaAway Draw
1442AustraliaAway Draw
136*2ZimbaweHomeWon
5 best Test innings by Graeme Smith
ScoreInningsAgainstVenueResult
2771EnglandAwayDrawn
2592EnglandAway Won
2341BangladeshAwayWon
2322PakistanNeutralWon
2001BangladeshHomeWon

ODIs

Top 5 ODI innings by Sourav Ganguly
ScoreAgainstStrike RateVenueResult
183Sri Lanka115.82NeutralWon
153*New Zeland102HomeWon
144Zimbawe94.73HomeWon
141*South Africa99.29NeutralWon
141Pakistan97.91NeutralWon
Top 5 ODI innings by Graeme Smith
ScoreAganistStrike RateVenueResult
141England105.22HomeLost
134*India108.06Away Won
125Sri Lanka87.41HomeLost
119*Australia95.96HomeWon
117Zimbawe90.69Home Won

# 5 Rankings

Tests

In this format, Smith has conveniently beaten Ganguly. The long format was not favourable for the latter throughout his career and despite few memorable innings, Ganguly was unable to spread similar charm of his batting in Test Cricket as he had in ODIs. 

Best rank as a batsman
 Highest RankingHighest Rating
Sourav Ganguly8713
Graeme Smith2843

ODIs

Throughout the comparison, we have seen a close tussle between Ganguly and Smith. But this data, in the end, makes it all clear. Their rankings differ by one spot and Smith defeats Ganguly in the ODI rankings as well.

Best rank as a batsman
 Highest RankingHighest Rating
Sourav Ganguly2844
Graeme Smith1784

Statistics highly dominate Cricket. A record built over several years is enough to determine who is the best. Both these players have a very close competition and the idea that one was able to beat another can appear unpleasant.

But the stats have revealed who leads this race and it’s the player who led the Proteas, Graeme Smith.

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