Courtesy: BCCI/ICC
Sourav Ganguly, the former Indian captain and BCCI President, is widely regarded as one of the best cricketers produced in India over the past 30 years or so. The left-handed batter was greatly known for his ability to pierce the gap square of the wicket on the off side, making it difficult for the bowlers to have any margin of error. Over the course of his illustrious cricketing career, which spanned for 16 years, starting from 1992 before his retirement in 2008, he achieved a lot of individual and team accolades, firmly placing his name in the history books.
During his Test career, Sourav Ganguly played 113 matches, scoring 7212 runs at an average of 42.17 with 16 fifties and 35 hundreds, but his best format was definitely the ODI one upon looking at the stats. In his 311 appearances in ODI cricket, he scored 11363 runs at an average of 41.02 with 22 hundreds and 72 fifties, captaining India in multiple ICC tournaments in the first half of 2000s after getting the leadership role from Sachin Tendulkar at the turn of the century.
In the ICC Champions Trophy, which was known as the Knockout Trophy in the first two editions, Sourav Ganguly played 13 matches across the first four editions, scoring 665 runs at an average of 73.88 in 11 innings with three hundreds and three fifties. The best individual score for Sourav Ganguly came in the 2000 edition of the tournament, where he scored 141* runs against South Africa in the semi-finals before losing the final to New Zealand.
Below is the list of Sourav Ganguly’s stats across four ICC Champions Trophy editions:
|
Year |
Matches |
Runs |
Average |
Best Individual Score |
|
1998 |
2 |
84 |
42.00 |
83 |
|
2000 |
4 |
348 |
116.00 |
141* |
|
2002 |
5 |
143 |
71.50 |
117* |
|
2004 |
2 |
90 |
45.00 |
90 |
|
Total |
13 |
665 |
73.88 |
141* |
With such insane stats in the history of the tournament across multiple editions, Sourav Ganguly is thought of as the king of the Champions Trophy. Furthermore, during his captaincy tenure, he led the Indian cricket team to the final of the ICC Champions Trophy 2002 against Sri Lanka, but the contest wasn’t completed across two days due to rains playing spoilsport at the R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo, which meant that he had to share the coveted trophy with his opposing counterpart Sanath Jayasuriya.
All in all, Sourav Ganguly has achieved a lot throughout his cricketing career, but his accomplishment in the Champions Trophy will continue to be remembered a bit more due to its relevance in modern cricket.
