Gone are those days when the Indian cricket team would be recognized as ‘Champions at home…underdogs in foreign soil’. Yes, you heard it right. For the longest time, the Indian cricket team had this image in world cricket until one man decided to take all responsibility to completely turnaround things for team India in foreign soil. That man is none other than one of India’s finest ever cricket captains, Sourav Ganguly.
No, it’s not that team India has never seen an aggressive cricket captain before Sourav Ganguly. One can never forget Kapil Dev and his heroics in the 1983 Prudential Cup when India lifted the trophy after starting from the scratches. But the difference between the Kapil Dev era and the Ganguly era was the environment around cricket at their respective times. When Ganguly came into the picture, India was already battling a series of controversies around match-fixing and what not. The reputation of the team was at stake and it was around that situation, where Ganguly, like a true leader, took charge and built a champion team that went ahead to do wonders in the years to come. Ganguly was someone who wouldn’t mind having a bit of banter and aggression on the cricket field and it certainly gave India a different image. Remember him making cricketing giant Australian captain Steve Waugh wait purposely for the toss? Aggression was beyond just on the field.
Virat Kohli too is a similar personality and the common thing between Dada and Cheeku is both of them get fired up after a heated argument on the field. No cricket fan can forget Dada thrashing Stuart Broad for a big six over extra cover just the next delivery after Broad had a thing or two to say to Ganguly at the 2007 NatWest ODI series in England. Similarly, one cannot forget how Virat literally smashed Mitchell Starc everywhere in the India Vs Australia test series few years back after a heated conversation. Both of them have successfully helped in Indian cricket’s transition and Virat is often credited to be Ganguly’s mirror reflection. Both are amazing in their own right but if you had to pick one among the two as the most aggressive Indian captain, whom would you pick and why?
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