12 Aspects We’d Love To Watch In A Sourav Ganguly Biopic If Ever Made

Born in Kolkata to businessman Chandidas Ganguly in 1972, Sourav Ganguly didn’t have any problems in pursuing his passion for cricket along with his elder brother Snehashish Ganguly. Though Sourav was an alumnus of Kolkata’s famous St. Xavier’s college, he had a decent childhood and upbringing where his family was quite supportive.

Sourav was fortunate enough to have a family who supported him in taking up the sport. He had competition in his family from his elder brother who was also a state-level Ranji player. Many know that Sourav initially started off as a footballer and thought of making a career out of it but as fate would have it he ended up playing cricket for India.

His rivalry with his elder brother Snehashish was very much evident as he too was a state-level Ranji player who made his first-class debut before Sourav. Both were all-rounder’s who represented Bengal in many Ranji and domestic matches. Not many know that Sourav was initially a right-handed batsman but in order to share his brother’s (who was a left-handed batsman) kit started batting left-handed. Many say that Snehashish was more talented than Sourav but destiny had other plans.

After having a fantastic Ranji trophy season in 1991 it was but obvious that Sourav would sooner or later get a call to play for India. He was selected for the ODI team to tour down under in 1991-92. It was in January 1992 against the West Indies at Brisbane that he got to play his first ODI match where he scored 3 runs. He unceremoniously got dropped from the team and took him almost four years to make a comeback.

Sourav was born to play for India. After returning from a forgettable tour of Australia in 1991-92, he scored tons of runs in domestic matches to get a call for the England tour in 1996. Thanks to senior player Navjot Singh Sidhu who returned home midway from the tour gave Sourav a chance to make his test match debut along with Rahul Dravid. Sourav cracked a century on debut at Lords and the rest is history.

This would make for interesting viewing when Sourav was still in his teens and fell for Dona Roy, a girl belonging from their rival’s family. Dona was a trained Odissi dancer who also liked Sourav who was still struggling to play for India. After Sourav cracked a century on test debut in 1996, the both of them had a secret marriage in the following year after much opposition.

Rahul Dravid had said that if there’s someone after god on the off-side, it’s got to be Sourav. This line sums it up for Sourav who was appointed skipper amidst betting controversy in 2000. He was instrumental in building a young Indian team where he gave break to some exceptional talents like MS Dhoni, Harbhajan Singh, Virendra Sehwag and Yuvraj Singh. He formed India’s formidable famous 5 which included himself, Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman and Anil Kumble who were more or less in the same age group and retired one after the other bringing an end to an era.

Some of India’s famous incredible wins came under Sourav’s leadership starting with ICC Knock-Out Trophy in 2000 and 2002; the memorable 2-1 test series win at home against Australia in 2001 and the outstanding win in the finals of the Natwest trophy in 2002 where India beat England and he went shirtless. And who can forget India entering the 2003 World Cup finals against the mighty Australians after getting beaten in their first group match? The WC final was indeed one of the most cherished high points of his career.   

Though Sourav was a much-married man but like any other celebrity he too was linked with someone. He was linked with actress Nagma at the peak of his career. According to a report published then, the both had met in London while visiting a temple in 2000 which sparked off rumours that the couple had married secretly. Later, Nagma confirmed that for the sake of his cricketing career she let go off the relationship.

Who can forget his spat with the then newly appointed coach of the Indian cricket team, Greg Chappell who reported to the selectors that Sourav wasn’t fit to be captain. It was reported that Sourav dictated terms and had players of his choice rather than consulting the coach or team management. Though the Sourav-Greg episode was blown out of proportion but the fact remains that both couldn’t hit it off from day one.

The Sourav-Greg incident led to Sourav getting axed not only as captain but also as a player. His inconsistent form got him to stay out of the team for a few years which made many cricketing pundits say that his career is over. The team’s loss in the 2007 WC made Greg resign as team coach opening the doors for one of cricket’s biggest comebacks by Sourav.

It was in 2008 when Sourav turned 36 and again found himself out of the team due to low scores and new talents knocking at the door. Sourav decided it was time to make way for gen-next as he declared that the upcoming Australia test series at home will be his swan song. He scored heavily in his final series as he signed off in style to later become a commentator cum pundit post retirement.