Some lesser known facts about India's most dynamic skipper Sourav Ganguly

Sourav Ganguly will forever be remembered as the person who inspired India to believe they can perform in overseas conditions, and led to a new era of Indian cricket by placing his faith in young cricketers.

Sourav didn’t just captain India after the hullabaloo of the match-fixing scandal that threatened to derail Indian cricket, but he brought about a revolution, a change in mentality, a hunger, an undying belief embedded into the core of the Indian system that we were good enough to go shoulder-to-shoulder with the best teams in the world.

Let's have a look at 10 lesser known facts about the man who taught India to win, our very own Sourav Ganguly, our 'Dada'.

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"Let me be honest to tell you that on the TV screen, he looks different. He is a very warm person when you actually meet him." - Mahendra Singh Dhoni

Fact 1:

Sourav’s parents gave him the nickname, ‘Maharaj’ which means ‘Prince’. Probably they knew the fact, their son was born to lead. Later, the nickname ‘The Prince of Calcutta’ was fondly given by Geoffrey Boycott.

Fact 2:

Ganguly was born a right-hander. He writes, eats, and as we know, bowls with his right hand. Basically, he does each and everything under the sun with his right hand. He was a right-handed batsman, too, in his early days.

His brother Snehashish was, however, a left-hander, and Sourav wanted to use his elder brother's kit. Exactly why he did this is unknown, but the choice made him the leading run-scorer among all left-handed Indian Test batsmen.

One more fact, Sourav replaced his elder brother Snehashish in the Bengal Ranji Trophy team. How ironical indeed!

Fact 3:

Chandidas Ganguly, the father of Sourav Ganguly, runs a flourishing printing business, the third largest in Asia. The Ganguly’s are one of the richest families in the ‘City of Joy’, Kolkata. Sourav’s joint family home in Behala, Southern Calcutta, has nearly 30 residing members with more than 45 rooms. Sourav is a deeply religious person and observes a fast every Tuesday. Yes, every Tuesday!

Fact 4:

Sourav was a huge football fan in his childhood (still he is), and actually football was his first love! But due to Snehashish’s insistence, Sourav was enrolled into a cricket academy during his class 10 holidays. And hence one of India’s greatest cricketers began his journey.

Fact 5:

"The Bengal Tiger always has his tail up, ready to devour the opposition." - Navjot Singh Sidhu

Sourav made his debut against West Indies at Brisbane in 1992 but was consequently dropped from the side because of his rumoured ‘attitude’ problems. It is said that Sourav refused to carry drinks for a senior cricketer onto the field, which he has continuously denied till date.

Fact 6:

"On the off-side, first there is God, then Sourav Ganguly." - Rahul Dravid

Sourav Ganguly's ton at Lord's Cricket ground was the highest score(131) by a batsman on debut at the ground. And Sourav Ganguly is the third cricketer in the world, along with Aravinda De Silva and Mahela Jayawardene, to score a 100 and lead a team to the final of a World Cup.

Fact 7:

"Sourav's greatest strength is his mind. He is hardworking - not only in the nets but also mentally. He bounces back." - Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar

Mohammad Azharuddin was Ganguly’s first international captain, but it is relatively less known that Ganguly was Azharuddin’s last international captain. Azharuddin played his last Test under Tendulkar, but when Ganguly took over as India’s ODI captain, Azharuddin played 11 ODIs with Ganguly as his captain: four in the controversial home series against South Africa, four more in the Coca-Cola Cup at Sharjah, and three more in the Asia Cup that followed.

Fact 8:

"Ganguly sacrificed the opening slot for me, made me a Test cricketer." - Virendra Sehwag

Sourav eloped with childhood sweetheart Dona Roy a week after the successful tour of England. The bride and groom's family were sworn enemies at that point and this news caused an uproar between them. However, both families reconciled and a formal wedding was held in February 1997.

Fact 9:

"I can die for such a captain." - Yuvraj Singh

Following Sachin‘s footsteps, Sourav donned the entrepreneur’s hat and opened a three-storey restaurant, Maharaja Sourav's - The Food Pavilion in Calcutta’s posh locality Park Street. The restaurant was inaugurated by Sachin himself in 2004.

Fact 10:

"Sourav stood by me when I was struggling. I owe a great deal to him. I can't express my gratitude to him in words." - Harbhajan Singh

A 1.5 km road in Rajarhat in the North 24 Parganas district of West Bengal is named after Sourav. He himself unveiled a plaque containing the new name of the road, Sourav Ganguly Avenue, at a function organized by the Rajarhat Gopalpur Municipality.