Sourav Ganguly, former Indian Cricket captain, celebrated his 50th birthday on Friday. The BCCI president initiated a new era that taught the “Men in Blue” to dominate the cricket world not only on home soil but also overseas.

Called by the names of “Maharaj” and “Dada” everyone remembers him by the shirt ripping act on the Lord’s balcony after defeating England. After his test debut in 1996 he was chosen as the Indian captain in the year of 2000. 

Let’s have a look at some of the top performances of the former India skipper at the international stage:

183 runs vs Sri Lanka in 1999

India endured a terrible start in the 1999 World Cup campaign. Ganguly paired with Rahul Dravid and made a 318-run stand. He individually scored 183 runs off 158 deliveries at a strike rate of 115. These runs and a great partnership between the two helped India to win the game by 157 runs. The partnership is the fourth highest partnership in ODI cricket. 

96 runs vs Pakistan in 1997

Ganguly stole the show with a blazing 96 runs in 136 balls in the fifth ODI in Toronto and also got two wickets to his name. Though India got defeated in the match Sourav Ganguly  won the player of the series award for amassing 222 runs and bagging 15 wickets over five matches.

239 runs vs Pakistan in 2007

Ganguly recorded his career-best Test performance scoring 239 runs in the first innings including 30 boundaries and 2 maximums in a match against Pakistan in the year of 2007. He also took an important wicket of Salman Butt. Though India was three wickets away from victory, the match ended in a draw. 

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141 runs vs South Africa in 2000:

Sourav Ganguly made 11 boundaries and 6 maximums helping India to post 295 runs on the board. He individually scored 141 runs in the match. India won the match by 95 runs and marched to the final but they lost as a team in the finals against New Zealand. 

131 runs vs England in 1996

This match in the year of 1996 was Sourav Ganguli’s test debut. He made a great contribution to the team and stabilized the innings as he faced 301 deliveries and went on to hit a century (131 runs) in his first match.