Sourav Ganguly vs MS Dhoni: Who was a better India captain?

In cricket, the captain is always the one to be blamed for the loss for his decisions on and off the field that can include various attributes. But are we giving the same amount of credit to the captain when the team wins?. Cricket is a team game and there is no doubt in it but leading from the front in this game is rather difficult than most other sports in the world.

India is a country with huge population and thus more pressure. People always want their team to perform well and bring the trophy home irrespective of the opposition. On a hindsight, the talent pool will be huge as well which increases the depth of the bench. But from when did the people of India expected them to win every single game they play?. Were India a dominant force in world cricket since they started playing cricket? The answer would be NO.

India were always good at home till 2000s but were arguably the worst travelling team in the bygone era. To top it all, some of the Indian players including the veteran Mohammad Azharuddin were accused of match fixing saga in late 2000 and India were in all sorts of trouble and their legacy in cricket was just looking to come to an end. Then came the man from Bengal in Sourav Ganguly who raised his hand when team needed a captain and the rest is history.

The prince of Bengal was already a superstar in the game of cricket for India by 2000. Although he did made is captaincy debut in 1999, he became the full time captain of the Indian cricket team in February 2000 and he had a successful debut series as captain as India won a 5 match series against South Africa, 3-2. The southpaw had a brilliant series as he scored a century and 2 fifties to his name.

What made Dada so special?

Sourav Ganguly is a captain who is known for his attacking approach. He wanted to win at any cost and didn’t wait for the opponents to make a move. He believed in his bunch of players and backed them to the hilt. It was in October 2000 that India travelled to Kenya for a ICC knockout trophy in Kenya. Defeating Australia then was a herculean task those days who were also the world champions then. India beat the mighty Australians and reached the finals but on the final day, New Zealand got the better of Indians.

It was the captain again in Sourav Ganguly who stamped his authority as he ended up as the highest run getter in the tournament with 348 runs including 2 hundreds and 1 half century at an astonishing average of 116.

In 2002, India made the finals again in the champions trophy which was shared by the hosts Sri Lanka and India as rain played spoil sport and by then, Virender Sehwag, Yuvraj Singh, Zaheer Khan, Ashish Nehra, Mohammad Kaif and Harbhajan Singh were all ready to take the Indian team forward. This bunch of veterans were groomed under Dada and the man himself considers that as his biggest achievement. Within 2 years of Ganguly’s captaincy, he instilled a massive belief to the Indian fans and earned the respect as the dangerous team from the opposition camps.

And then came one of the iconic celebrations in the history of cricket from Lord’s balcony as India clinched the Natwest final by chasing 326 runs against England which was the highest ever ODI chase then.

The 2003 world cup final is a very well known literature to all the cricket fans and as a result of 2003 world cup final loss, India had made 3 major tournament finals (to go with several tri nation finals) but couldn’t go past the finishing line even once under Sourav Ganguly. Of course, rain was the culprit in 2002 champions trophy. These 3 years were magical and will be there in the history of Indian books of how Dada helped India to emerge as one of the world beaters from a very precarious situation.

As far as red ball cricket is concerned, India were competitive on all the overseas tours but could only be successful in Pakistan where India won their first overseas test series over a decade.

Under Ganguly, in 29 tests that India played away from home, they have won 11 losing 10 which is not bad for a sub continent team. In colors, India have 76 wins as oppose to 65 losses in 146 games that Ganguly has captained.

Apart from numbers, it’s the belief that Dada instilled into the Indian fans and some may find it as a cliché but only the fans who where worried about the Indian cricket then in 2000s after the match fixing saga know what the prince of Bengal had contributed to the Indian cricket.

The arrival of MS Dhoni

If Ganguly instilled belief into Indian fans, it was the boy from Ranchi who also happens to be the born leader made India the world champions after 28 years. No captain in the history of cricket has all 3 ICC trophies( World cup, Champions trophy, WT20). He took over after the debacle of 2007 world cup and in the next 6 years, everything that MS touched turned into gold.

Within a span of 6 years, MS Dhoni had all the ICC trophies in his cabinet. He took India to the #1 ranking in test cricket and he had a core that was developed by Dada which cannot be forgotten. The likes of Zaheer Khan, Gautam Gambhir, Virender Sehwag, VVS Laxman, Harbhajan Singh were instrumental in India’s rise to #1 ranking in test cricket

Statistically, there is no captain at the moment can match MS Dhoni in white ball cricket. He has 2 ICC 50 over trophies to go with a WT20. If Dada made India as one of the world beaters, MS Dhoni made India “The World Champions” with a core that Sourav Ganguly left behind him.

Although, Dhoni the test captain has always been under the scanner with his laid back approach and not investing enough on fast bowlers, he was a brilliant white ball captain and arguably the best white ball captain. The scrubbing in Australia and England were the lowest points in Dhoni’s test career as a captain.

Under MS Dhoni, India have played 200 ODIs and won 110 games and lost 76 of them. In red ball cricket, India have an awful overseas record with only 6 wins from 30 games to go with 15 defeats. India were dominant under MS Dhoni at home in tests with a win % of 70.

India went from strength to strength between 2007 and 2011 and eventually crowned as the world champions in 2011. One of the factors that goes unnoticed in the illustrious period of Dhoni’s rein is the terrible win loss ratio between the end of 2011 world cup and till the time Dhoni quit his captaincy.

India won only 8 ODIs away from home in that period against Australia, England, New Zealand and South Africa out of 34 ODIs which lead to the decline of Indian team or in other words, India didn’t live up to the expectations.

Sourav Ganguly vs MS Dhoni: Who was a better India captain?

All in all, if one has to decide the best captain between Sourav Ganguly and MS Dhoni, it is next to impossible and their contribution to Indian cricket is inestimable and it all comes down to emotions and individual preferences.

There is no clear winner among the two and if one wants to bring in the statistical dimension to account, MS Dhoni could edge Ganguly but if one brings in the emotional aspect as a cricket fan who started following the game from 2000s or even before that, knows what Sourav Ganguly brought to the table which cannot be put into words.