The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) president and former India captain Sourav Ganguly is regarded as one of the strongest pillars of modern cricket in the country.
Be it for the transformation he brought on the field with his captaincy or taking over the reins of Indian cricket as the chief of it in one of its darkest times, Ganguly has been a stalwart unlike any.
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However, it was not merely his leadership skills or the sharp cricketing mind which made him the person he is. Instead, it was Ganguly’s class with the willow that forced the world to take notice of him.
Going by his numbers, the Prince of Calcutta is up in the ranks with the legendary batsmen and shall remain immortal as one of the greatest white-ball cricketers of all time. And in the 2003 World Cup, where he led the Men in Blue to the final, India’s semi-final against Kenya saw Ganguly’s true batting prowess.
On March 20, 2003, not only did Ganguly play a captain’s knock and guided his team to their second-ever World Cup final, but reached a historic milestone that was not achieved by any till that time.
The then 30-year-old played an innings of 111 runs and became the first Indian to reach triple figures in a knock out match of the World Cup – a record which stood for more than 12 years. Rohit Sharma became the second and last Indian to achieve the milestone when he scored 137 against Bangladesh in the quarterfinal of the 2015 World Cup.
His innings was graced by five fours and five maximums and had given the cricket fans another treat as he notched a century-run stand with his favourite batting partner Sachin Tendulkar.