5 reasons why Sourav Ganguly was a better captain than MS Dhoni

Indian cricket, without a doubt, has been fortunate to have had many great captains over its 82-year history. While many players of the past, who were bestowed with the honour of captaining the country, might not have had great numbers to back them up, it would be disingenuous to ignore their contribution in enabling Indian cricket enjoy the status it enjoys currently.Having said that, it would be safe to say that Sourav Ganguly and MS Dhoni are, by far, the two most popular captains India have had, and debates centering on the greatest skipper ever often come down to a choice between the two just mentioned.Dhoni, undoubtedly, has a better winning percentage as captain in both Test and ODI cricket, apart from having won the ICC World Cup in 2011 which Ganguly never quite managed. But it would be facile, in my opinion, to pronounce Dhoni as the superior captain without scratching beneath the surface and taking into account the circumstances during their time as captain.Here are five reasons why Ganguly just edges out Dhoni as a captain:

#1 Took over captaincy after the match-fixing saga

Sourav Ganguly, for a start, took over as captain at the toughest time that Indian cricket has ever faced in its long history. Afflicted by the match-fixing scandal in 2000, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) deposed their faith in Ganguly to take over the reins from Mohammad Azharuddin. Not only was Ganguly entrusted with the task of helping India win cricket matches after a prolonged period of failure, but he also had to somehow restore the faith of the Indian fan. And he did so in splendid fashion with the able help of players like Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and Anil Kumble alongside him.

MS Dhoni, relatively at least, took over at a much smoother time for Indian cricket and had a group of players at his disposal who were truly at the peak of their powers. Since 2011, Dhoni hasn’t been able to match up to his early success and that is because of the fact that his established players, who had served him so well previously, were on the wane, which only goes to show how difficult a job Ganguly had on his hands while taking over.