Sourav Ganguly is an important name when it comes to Indian cricket and is among the best batters to have represented the country in their gloried history. But more than his batting credentials, the aspect that made him synonymous with Indian cricket was his leadership skills.
He was one of the first captains of India who imparted self-belief and aggression to the team. This led India to a glorious period that is being enjoyed by the current crop of players. Under his tenure, India found success away from home as well as started being prolific at home.
In this article, we delve into the overall records achieved by Sourav Ganguly in international cricket.
Sourav Ganguly’s Records in International Cricket
| Format | Matches | Runs | 50s/100s | Wickets | 4w/5w | BBI |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tests | 113 | 7212 | 35/16 | 32 | 0/0 | 3/28 |
| ODIs | 311 | 11363 | 72/22 | 100 | 1/2 | 5/16 |
| Combined | 424 | 18575 | 107/38 | 132 | 1/2 | 5/16 |
Great Achievements of Sourav Ganguly in International Cricket Career
Captaincy
- Led India in 49 Test matches. This is the 3rd-most behind Virat Kohli (68) and MS Dhoni (60). This is the 19th most captaincy appearance among all Test skippers.
- India won 21 Tests under his captaincy, again making him the 3rd-most successful Indian skipper after Kohli (40) and Dhoni (27).
- The southpaw has led the Indian team in a whopping 147 ODI matches, and he is only behind Dhoni (200) and Mohammad Azharuddin (174).
- India won 76 of those games in which he captained the side. Only Dhoni, with 110 wins, and Azharuddin, with 90 victories, have been more successful than Ganguly.
- He has led India in 196 games overall (Test and ODIs), making him the 11th highest-capped captain in international cricket.
Test
- Sourav Ganguly was the 10th Indian batter to amass a Test century on debut in a game against England at Lord’s in 1996. Only 7 Indians post-Ganguly have achieved this feat.
- He has featured in 113 Test matches for India and this is the joint 8th most Test appearance by an Indian player alongside Virat Kohli. Overall, he is the 43rd most Test-capped player in the world.
- With 330 runs in a single Test against Pakistan back in 2007 at Bengaluru, Ganguly’s tally is the 3rd most for an Indian player behind Sunil Gavaskar (344), VVS Laxman (340), and 26th overall.
- His 239 and 91 in Bengaluru is one of the 52 instances where a batter scored a hundred and ninety in a match.
- With 7212 Test runs, he is the 7th most successful Test batter for India in terms of runs scored in the longest format.
- Similarly, he has the 10th-highest century tally amongst Indian batters in Tests.
- He is one of the 9 batters to have scored 2 hundreds in consecutive matches since his debut. Only Azharuddin has scored 3 tons in his first 3 successive Tests.
ODI
- Sourav Ganguly is one of the most prolific ODI batsmen in history, and with 11363 runs, he has the 9th most ODI runs. Amongst Indians, only Sachin Tendulkar (18426) and Kohli have scored more ODI runs than him.
- He has scored 22 tons in the format, which makes him the 10th most century-maker in the format. Kohli, Sachin, and Rohit Sharma have more centuries than Ganguly in ODIs for India.
- In 1999, he amassed 1767 runs in ODI cricket, making it the second-highest tally of ODI runs in a calendar year. Only Sachin, with 1894 runs in 1998, has more than him.
- In 2000, he made 7 centuries, which is the second-most in ODI history by a batter in a calendar year. Sachin made 9 tons in 1998, while Rohit and David Warner had 7 each in 2019 and 2016, respectively.
- He has been in his nineties 6 times in ODI cricket, the joint 10th most in the format.
- He has scored fifties (and over) in ODI cricket a whopping 94 times, and this makes him the 9th most overall.
- He has hit the 10th most sixes in ODI cricket (190) and the 9th most fours with 1122.
- Ganguly is the 4th fastest batter in terms of innings to reach 7000, 8000, 9000, 10000, and 11000 ODI runs.
- Along with Dravid, he forged a 318-run stand for the 2nd wicket at Taunton in 1999 against Sri Lanka. This is the 3rd highest partnership for the 2nd wicket and the 4th highest partnership for any wicket.
- Sourav Ganguly (100) is one of the 33 players to have caught 100 or more catches in ODIs.
- He is the 16th of the 63 players to complete a triple of 1000 runs, 50 fielding dismissals, and 50 wickets.
- He was the 4th player in ODI history to score a hundred and take 4 wickets in a single game. This rare feat has been achieved only by 17 players overall.
- He was also the 8th player to score a half-century with the bat and take a 5-wicket haul in the same game.
- He is just one of the 20 players in ODIs to take a 5-wicket haul in an innings while leading the side.
Test and ODIs Combined
- He has hit 18575 runs in all formats combined, making him the 18th most prolific batter in international cricket.
- Ganguly breached the 100-run mark in an innings 38 times, and he has the 24th most-century count across all formats of the game.
- He had scored 2580 in both ODIs and Tests combined, making it the 12th “Most runs in a calendar year”.
- Ganguly, with 424 matches in international cricket, is among 39 players to have played 400 or more games at the highest level.
Awards
- Sourav has won the Player of the Match award 31 times in ODI cricket, and this is the 7th most by a player in the history of the format. Overall, he has won the POTM award on 37 occasions (6 in Tests).
- Similarly, he has been named Player of the Series 7 times, the joint 6th most. Including Tests, he has won 10 times.
