Sourav Ganguly is one name that has changed the face of Indian cricket forever since he came on the scene in 1996 at Lord’s. He was the best left handed batter in the world at that time and his cover drives were a thing of beauty. He was made the captain of the Indian team in 2000 and he made the team more aggressive minded and made them win at overseas conditions regularly.
The Dada of Indian cricket has played a number of iconic innings throughout his illustrious career and won a number of matches with his bat alone. He was one of the most fearsome strikers of the cricket ball and especially left arm bowlers feared bowling to him. Let’s look at the Top 5 best innings in the iconic career of Sourav Ganguly.
131 vs England at Lord’s (1996)
If there was a contest of the greatest Debuts in Test cricket history then this magical innings of Sourav Ganguly will feature at the near top of the list. To have your first test match at the iconic Lord’s ground in so much pressure and then to deliver at such an incredible level is the stuff dreams are made of. He showed how to soak in the pressure and the adulation at the same time, he hit 20 fours in an innings which consisted of 301 balls and from that point there was no looking back for this incredibly talented young man from Kolkata. This was a statement to the entire world that the new prince has arrived.
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239 vs Pakistan at Bangalore (2007)
The only double hundred in the career of Sourav Ganguly had to feature on this list not only because it was his Hughes score of his career but the fact that it came during a very tricky moment in the match and it was at the last stages of his glorious career as well. India batted first In that match but we’re reduced to 61-4 but then he and Yuvi stitched a 300+ run partnership and stabilized the innings and agreed that Sourav went into beast mode and completely destroyed the bowling attack of Pakistan. He faced 361 balls and smashed 30 fours and 2 huge sixes in this Marathon innings of his. A remarkable innings by a truly remarkable player.
144 vs Australia at Brisbane (2003)
This is one of the best ever innings that has been played by Sourav Ganguly In his career. It was a tricky moment in the game and India were in a spot of bother as they lost 3 wickets in a span of 22 balls and then came the saviour of the innings and Sourav first got the innings back on track and then after some time he started playing his shots and hit 18 great boundaries and this was a hundred which was filled with a lot of emotion as well. One of the best middle order overseas hundreds by an Indian batsman.
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183 vs Sri Lanka at Taunton (1999)
The highest score made by Sourav Ganguly against a very strong Sri Lanka team in the 1999 world cup will always stand out as one of the best innings of his entire career. He showed in that innings how destructive he can be when he wants to and he can hit sixes at will and the Sri Lankan bowling attack got to witness that first hand. In this extraordinary innings , he smashed 17 glorious fours and 7 massive sixes and helped India win that match with ease. That innings put fear in the minds of the opposition batsmen in the world.
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141 vs South Africa at Nairobi (2000)
This innings came in the semi final of the then ICC Knockout trophy in a tricky match against a very good South Africa team , he started by watching the balls with respect but as he spent more time in the middle, he started playing in his attacking way and absolutely destroyed the bowling attack of South Africa that day by hitting 11 fours and 6 monster sixes in this Innings and India won that match on the back of this incredible innings by Dada.
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