'I had no fear' - Sourav Ganguly on scoring a century on his Test debut at Lord’s in 1996

Sourav Ganguly is widely considered to be one of the greatest left-handed batsmen ever to play Test cricket. He also captained India and regrouped the team after the match-fixing scandal in the 2000s and build a fearless brand of Indian cricket, changing its course forever. One might even say ‘fearless’ is the way to describe the former India captain and now the BCCI President.

Many of the cricket fans remember that Ganguly made his Test debut but 1996, but a very few remember that he had made his ODI debut way back in 1992-92 tri-series in Australia in a match against the West Indies. After a couple of unsuccessful outings, was dropped from the team until his fateful debut in Tests against England at the Mecca of Cricket, the Lord’s ground. Recently in an interview with Boria Majumdar, Ganguly shared some memories of his Test debut.

Sourav Ganguly says that his mindset was unbelievable on his debut

The ‘Prince of Kolkata’, a name he was bestowed upon by England legend Geoff Boycott, was actually making his comeback into the India team after 4 years and was eager to make his mark in international cricket. He scored a sublime 131 at Lord’s and helped India draw the Test match, but the series was lost 1-0, as the visitors had lost the first Test at Birmingham by 8 wickets.

“Lord’s in 1996, the mindset was unbelievable. I had no fear, I just went and played. I remember going to Bristol for the first warm-up game and I got a duck in the first innings. Second innings I got a 70-odd not out. As I went into the series I got better and better,” Ganguly was quoted as saying at the India Today Inspiration event.

Ganguly went on to make another century in his second Test, which was the third of the series at Nottingham. He had a stellar career until 2005 when a spat with then-coach Greg Chappell resulted in him being removed from the captaincy and the team. He made a comeback in 2007 and finally called time on his career in 2008 in a series against Australia at home. In total, he made 7212 runs in 113 Tests and 11363 runs in 311 ODIs. He made 38 centuries in total and led India to the finals of the 2003 World Cup.

“Good form, bad form… People said I was not good enough, (couldn’t play) fast bowling, age. The only thing which kept me going was, you give me a bat in hand and I’ll score runs, doesn’t matter what you think,” Ganguly said.

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