We will miss you Dada...

Sourav Ganguly – the name that comes first in every cricket lovers mind when discussing about the most successful captain India ever had. Famous as the Royal Bengal Tiger, this man started a new era of Indian cricket team. It still seems like yesterday when we watched Ganguly open the batting with Tendulkar and enjoyed watching the duo bat together.

Ganguly was given the responsibility of captaining the side when team India was going through a reconstructive phase affected severely by fixing scandals. It was in 2000 when Tendulkar stepped down as captain and Ganguly was named the new captain of India. He made a mark as a captain by winning his first assignment as a captain in a home series against South Africa.

Ganguly is the most successful captain for India in tests till date, winning 21 off the 49 matches played. He is even India’s most successful overseas captain till date, winning 11 matches. Ganguly successfully led team India into the 2003 World Cup final. However, we lost to Aussies in the final but that doesn’t do any harm to his name.

He has mastered all forms of cricket. Saurav has got 11000 odd runs in ODI’s, making him the 5th highest run getter in ODI’s and was the only third player to cross the 10000-mark at his time. He was the first Indian to score a 100 in Australia. He was the most aggressive captain of Indian team, someone who taught us to fight as a team. He always encouraged the young faces. He gave India several players who have become cricket icons today.

Players like Gautam Gambhir, MS Dhoni, and many more were guided and motivated by Ganguly. And the result is in front of us – today they are leading our team and our nation to several glories. Even MS can’t deny the fact that he learnt leadership qualities under Dada and some under Dravid.

Dada became the Godfather of Indian team at the time when we most needed a man with such an aggressive attitude and brilliant captaincy qualities. He was a perfect team planner who taught us how to handle the pressure situations. He built the foundation of Indian cricket team in such a way that even today we can proudly say that we are the best team in world.

And today this legend has decided to quit from all forms of cricket. We will see no more of Dada even in IPL or in Ranji tournament. However, he has a one year contract left with Sahara Pune warriors so let’s wait and watch what happens. Hope we get to see more of him in the future. But for now we can say only one thing with moist eyes “We will miss u Dada…”