Did Sourav Ganguly under-achieve?

[vvvslaxman]

Dada's stats are Rahansque now minus match winning SENA knocks. . He sure did play a match winning role in SL test win without Tendulkar.  But not enough to be better than other 3.

 

Batting performances of Indians at home with Ganguly in the side.  I know he was up against some top teams at home when he was going through a terrible patch. Australia/Pakistan/SA.  During his second stint he did tighten up his game and play more solidly. But he wasted best part of his career by not practicing regularly. He was notorious for skipping practice sessions.  Never worked hard like his other three. He was sort of gifted but not as gifted as Sehwag. You think with a bit more application he could have had better numbers?

 

 

 

 

 

[cricketfan28]

yes ..at one point he was doing better than Sachin.

[Crookbond]

Ganguly was an average Test match batsman and a good ODI batsman for his time - nothing more than that.

[Suhaan]

35 minutes ago, Crookbond said:

Ganguly was an average Test match batsman and a good ODI batsman for his time - nothing more than that.

He was damn good up untill 2000 in odis,fairly consistent

He and Sachin carried Indian batting pre 2000 till the time Yuvraj,Kaif etc arrived

[Serpico]

he had a great start to his career and averaged nearly 50 in the 90s, so he definitely underachieved in the end. 

[Majestic]

His batting went downhill post captaincy. Captaincy was a hard job at that time in Indian team and he took us to great heights so his batting got sidelined and he didn't focus enough to improve either.

 

In Tests in 1990s, he has an average of 49. Look at stats of Tendulkar, Ganguly and Dravid in 1990s for instance.

 

Tendulkar 58

Dravid 49

Ganguly 49

 

But where did it ended for them?

 

Tendulkar 53

Dravid 52

Ganguly 42

 

Clearly, his batting got sidelined after he became captain and he was too much into man management and leadership that he wasn't bothered about improving his batting skills.

[ShoonyaSifar]

IIRC Ganguly never had a FC average of 50+ in FC cricket when everyone and their uncle used to average 55-60 (even Saba Karim averaged 57!). He did not have season shattering batting stats unlike Dravid or VVS, who would generally outscore him in domestic competitions in the early to mid 90s. He was always seen as Dalmiya's boy even in domestic cricket as he would invariably make the Rest of India/ India A teams despite average numbers.

 

I'd say he in fact overachieved as a Test cricketer in his initial years and ultimately settle with numbers which reflected his domestic achievement in his formative years.

[ShoonyaSifar]

On 7/17/2021 at 1:51 AM, Baji-Rao said:

i agree. the reason he doesn't get criticised is because sachin,sehwag,rahul etc were around him to absorb any batting fails from him. If he played today, we would be debating him vs mediocres like Manish pandey

Calm down Baji-Rao. Ganguly, if he played for Pakistan and ended with those batting stats, would be a Pakistani batting legend. 

[Trichromatic]

He was terrible against pace. 

[Sandeep99]

Clearly remember it even now. He was a liability. Was good in odis though but highly overrated in tests.. Has a good knock in Brisbane and few here and there in England but extremely average cricketer.. 

[Trichromatic]

34 minutes ago, Sandeep99 said:

Clearly remember it even now. He was a liability. Was good in odis though but highly overrated in tests.. Has a good knock in Brisbane and few here and there in England but extremely average cricketer.. 

 

Worst one to play 100 tests for India?

[kohli]

10 minutes ago, Trichromatic said:

 

Worst one to play 100 tests for India?

Ishant - hold my beer 

[Sandeep99]

15 minutes ago, Trichromatic said:

 

Worst one to play 100 tests for India?

Ishant 

[vvvslaxman]

2 hours ago, Sandeep99 said:

Clearly remember it even now. He was a liability. Was good in odis though but highly overrated in tests.. Has a good knock in Brisbane and few here and there in England but extremely average cricketer.. 

 

Yes. That is where the lack of effort comes into picture. Didn't go back to domestic circuit. Didn't attend practice sessions even as a captain.  Until he was kicked out (belatedly)   under Dravid in 2006 he was playing mediocre cricket. But during his second stint he got slightly better.   He returned to play the famous sreesanth test in SA. He played over 3 hours to make a 50 gainst Steyn/Pollock/Ntini/Kallis. Also played a two vital knocks at capetown  where India was in great position to win the first ever test series in SA. But other stalwarts let us down.

[CodeOfWisden]

4 hours ago, ShoonyaSifar said:

Calm down Baji-Rao. Ganguly, if he played for Pakistan and ended with those batting stats, would be a Pakistani batting legend. 

He would definitely be amongst their top three odi batsman of all time. 

[CodeOfWisden]

2 hours ago, Sandeep99 said:

Clearly remember it even now. He was a liability. Was good in odis though but highly overrated in tests.. Has a good knock in Brisbane and few here and there in England but extremely average cricketer.. 

Sorry, but A test average of 42 is good enough. There are players in England who have played 120 tests and have been given OBEs and MBEs even after averaging in high 30s.For example Atherton and Gatting. 

 

Similarly Ian Bell is considered a pretty good player but he  avgs 42, basser hussain avgs 37 LOL. 

Ganguly was a good test batsman, definitely above average. 

[Sandeep99]

9 hours ago, CodeOfWisden said:

Sorry, but A test average of 42 is good enough. There are players in England who have played 120 tests and have been given OBEs and MBEs even after averaging in high 30s.For example Atherton and Gatting. 

 

Similarly Ian Bell is considered a pretty good player but he  avgs 42, basser hussain avgs 37 LOL. 

Ganguly was a good test batsman, definitely above average. 

If you just go by averages,  Cook would seem a very average cricketer to you. English conditions come with its own set of challenges.

[CodeOfWisden]

1 hour ago, Sandeep99 said:

If you just go by averages,  Cook would seem a very average cricketer to you. English conditions come with its own set of challenges.

And Ganguly avgd 60+ in English conditions. 

[Sandeep99]

1 hour ago, CodeOfWisden said:

And Ganguly avgd 60+ in English conditions. 

I don't want to dwell further but can we agree that English team were not really great until post 2005 really. Yes, Ganguly did make runs but still it adds to the argument that he underachieved.

[adkrish22290]

In ODI cricket, Dada can be placed among the best ODI cricketers of all time. Many of his ODI innings are match-winning ones and memorable, especially that 183 in the 1999 World Cup. Plus he is one of India's best captains irrespective of format (T20 doesn't count as he never captained India in a T20).

 

But as a Test cricketer, he is strictly average and barring his debut century at Lord's, there is not much to say about Dada's Test career. He had his weaknesses against genuine fast bowling and was not the fastest of runners between the wickets. Among the Fab 5 of Indian batting in the early 2000s, he was easily the worst Test cricketer. I would go ahead and openly say that captaincy extended his Test career, he didn't deserve to play 100+ Tests.

Edited July 19, 2021 by adkrish22290