Many people accused Ganguly of being arrogant, snob, irritating personality etc. Even I felt the same about him. But thats past. Ever since he became the captain of India, one must agree, the team has changed a lot. Indian team is more aggressive, more confident and going through the best phase, even better than the one during 1983-1986. Most of it is due to the attitude of Ganguly.
I started liking him because of the immense support he gives to his team mates. Remember, he supported Harbhajan’s inclusion in the team when Harbhajan was going through a rough phase. He fought for likes of Asish Nehra, Zaheer Khan, Yuvraj Singh. All these people have been instrumental in recent victories. Another thing I liked about him is his aggression. Before the Australian series in India, his aggression was mocked. Now he is treated well and people around the world started to respect his aggression. He now has the right to be aggressive because of the form of the Indian team. I still believe that, his captaincy isnt shrewd like Steve Waugh’s, but his ability to get the best out of his team mates and his public support for his talented team mates is bringing the best out of the Indian Cricket.
Talking about his Batting, I believe, he is a BIG MATCH player, specially in one-dayers. Without doubt, he played many great innings in crucial ties than even Sachin. In a big match, you can safely assume that 90% of the times he will come good. As far as Test batting is concerned, he has a long way to go, although his average might differ with me. He somehow does not show the same class in Tests as he does in One-Dayers. His offside play is still the best in the world, and probably after Gower, there has been no Left Hander as silky and classy as Sourav. Yes, even Lara is not classy or silky through the off side.
Touchwood, till now the Indian team looks like the team to beat in World Cup. I would say that among all the teams, Indian team under Sourav has the best chance to Win the next World Cup.