Saurav Ganguly, the new Captain of the Indian team, has emerged as one of the key
components of both the one day and test sides for India. He is an aggressive left-handed
batsman and is also an effective (right-handed) medium pace bowler. He had a
disastrous start to his international career as a 19 year old during the tour to Australia
in 1991-92 where both his ability and attitude was questioned. His recall for the 1996
tour to England was severely criticised as one of the evils of India's "quota"
system. He answered in style by scoring centuries in his first two test innings as well as
capturing vital wickets to bag the Man of the series award. Still he was considered fit
for only test matches, his inability to play onside strokes being exploited by bowlers to
slow down his scoring. He worked on the problem and has given India several dynamic starts
while opening the innings. He became a household name in India after the Sahara Cup in
Toronto where he won several matches for India vs Pakistan. Besides several superlative
batting performance (including 75* in 75 balls), he exploited the conditions to return
some excellent bowling figures (including 5-16). If he works on some of his other
drawbacks (running between the wickets and fielding being the greatest concerns), he has
the potential to become one of the superstars of world cricket in the near future.
