Mumbai: Former India captain Sourav Ganguly is set to be inducted in International Cricket Council’s Hall of Fame on July 11, TOI has learnt.Ganguly thus will join an elite list of Indian cricketers to be inducted in the ICC’s Hall of Fame. Other ICC Hall of Famers from India include MS Dhoni, Virender Sehwag, Vinoo Mankad, Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Anil Kumble, Kapil Dev, Sunil Gavaskar, Bishen Singh Bedi and former India women’s captain Diana Edulji.Incidentally, on Wednesday (July 8), which happened to be Ganguly’s 54th birthday, the makers of Ganguly’s biopic ‘Dada’ unveiled the film’s first look, featuring Rajkummar Rao in the titular role. The scene shows Rao swirling his jersey in jubilant celebration after India’s win in the 2002 NatWest Series final against England at Lord’s. A shirtless Ganguly waving his India jersey before running onto the field remains one of Indian cricket’s most iconic moments.Minutes after the poster was unveiled, Ganguly shared it on his social media handle and reacted to RajKummar Rao’s look. Calling it the “best gift ever,” he wrote, “The Best Gift Ever! Can’t wait to see you play my cover drive! @rajkummar_rao.”A celebrated former India skipper and cricketer, Ganguly, who went on to become the BCCI president and currently is the president of Cricket Association of Bengal, scored 7212 runs in 113 Tests, including 16 centuries and 11363 runs in 311 ODIs, with 22 centuries, while also claiming 132 wickets with his useful medium-pace. Ganguly remains one of the top run-getters in ODI cricket. A force in one-day cricket, he formed a highly successful opening pair with the legendary Sachin Tendulkar.Known as the “God of off-side” due to his ability to pierce the off-side field with his breathtaking cover drives, Ganguly was widely known as one of India’s greatest, graceful batters and captains, who even made the great former Australian captain Steve Waugh for toss during the iconic 2001 Test series!When he took over as India’s captain in 2000, the Indian team was emerging from dark, bleak phase of match-fixing, perhaps the worst in its history. However, hailed for his aggressive tactics, Ganguly, putting together a bunch of world-class cricketers like Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, VVS Laxman, Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh, inspired India to overseas Test victories. Under Ganguly’s leadership, India were the joint winners of the ICC Champions Trophy in 2002, reached the 2003 ODI World Cup final in South Africa, squared a Test series in England, won a historic Test series in Pakistan in 2004 and ended Australia’s 16-match winning streak in Kolkata in one of the greatest comebacks in Test history.
