Recently, the former Indian cricketer explained how he influenced Sourav Ganguly to open the innings for Team India. Lal was Team India’s coach in between 1996 and 1997. Sourav Ganguly had an immense talent within himself. Hence, Madan Lal wanted to make the best use of his talent. So, he advised the left-hander to open the batting for the national team, which eventually turned out to be a great move.
Sourav Ganguly opened the batting in 242 matches out of the 311 ODIs he played for the national team. While opening the innings, he scored 9,146 runs at 41.57 with a top score of 183 against Sri Lanka at Taunton in the 199 World Cup. Lal feels that Ganguly had all the shots in his armoury and just like all other batsmen, even he needed time to settle in.
Lal recently spoke in a Facebook Live session with Sportskeeda stating, “We wanted to utilise Dada. I do not know if he remembers or not. I told him ‘Dada, nothing will happen batting at no. 5. You should directly open’.”
Madan Lal feels that Sourav Ganguly had also the shots in his book
Lal recently stated that, “Every player has his own style. Ganguly had all the strokes. Every batsman needs some time to settle in. If you play out a few overs with just one-two runs because you need to get set to the conditions. Even today, batsmen like Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane take some time.”
In most parts of his career as an opener, Ganguly formed a lethal opening partnership with Sachin Tendulkar in ODIs. Both of them notched up 8,227 runs at 47.55 average in 176 innings together. The duo compiled 26-century partnerships and 29 fifty-run stands. Lal spoke about how the duo took India to victory in several matches.
What He Further Added About The Story
“So, I told him, he was like ‘okay’. And then he never looked back. Sachin and Sourav’s partnership has been really popular for India – the two won a lot of matches for India. I was a coach at the time. I vaguely remember I might have told him this during the Sri Lanka tour.”
Ganguly also became one of the greatest and successful captains ever in the country. He formed a new Team India when he became the captain of the team in 2000. He ignited a broken team post the spot-fixing scandal and taught them to fight eye to eye. The Prince Of Kolkata instilled fearlessness in the team and also the belief that the team can win both at home and away and against any opposition.
From Indian Captain To BCCI President To The ICC?
There was never any doubt in anyone’s mind that Sourav Ganguly was always made for the big things. He has been doing that right from the start of his career. Due to this, there will always be that dynasty leadership in him. He is the Prince Of Kolkata after all.
From the captaincy of the Indian team to BCCI President, things have been smooth for Sourav Ganguly. He could now be considering being part of the ICC and its President someday. Let’s wait and watch.
