Ganguly to retire after Australia series!

Ganguly to retire after Australia Tests

Sourav Ganguly has announced he will retire after the upcoming Test series against Australia.

"This will be my last series," said Ganguly at the end of a routine press conference in Bangalore. "Before coming here I spoke to my team-mates and hopefully I will go out with a winning knock."

Ganguly, 36, has scored 6,888 runs in 109 Tests, with 15 hundreds. In 311 ODIs, he scored 11,363 runs at 41.02. He captained India in 147 ODIs.

Ganguly played Tests 49 as captain, the most by an Indian. The 21 matches won during his tenure is also an Indian record, and he had a win percentage of over 40. He is the only one with such a high percentage among players who have captained India in more than a solitary Test. Starting with a hundred on debut, Ganguly's Test average has never dipped below 40.

Kris Srikkanth, head of India's new selection panel, felt Ganguly made the right decision. "I think Sourav Ganguly has been an excellent player," he said. "He has brought so many laurels as captain and player.

"He had a good chat with me and [fellow selector] Narendra Hirwani. He wants a peaceful series without any troubles on his mind. I hope he goes out with couple of hundreds. Ganguly was one of the best captains the world has ever produced and I think he deserves it."

India's selectors picked Ganguly in a 15-man squad for the first two Tests against Australia despite intense speculation on his future leading up to the selection meeting in Mumbai last week. Ganguly had reportedly considered quitting cricket after being overlooked for the Irani Cup match between the Rest of India and Delhi but India's new selection panel valued his experience over youngsters like Rohit Sharma, Yuvraj Singh and Mohammad Kaif.

Ganguly is one of only three players to complete the treble of 10,000 runs, 100 wickets and 100 catches in ODIs, Sanath Jayasuriya and Sachin Tendulkar being the others. Along with Tendulkar, he formed a prolific partnership at the top of the order, with 6,609 runs at an average of nearly 50 per stand in 136 innings.

Since his recall in December 2006 and till the end of the home series against South Africa earlier this year, Ganguly scored 1,571 runs at 50.67, including a maiden double-century. However, he managed only 96 runs in six innings during India's 2-1 series defeat in Sri Lanka this summer.

Edited by dips_december - 07 October 2008 at 12:35pm

Well the people would love to see the Bengal Tiger Roar one last time and I think he will score, knowing his determination. He would love to silence his critics one last time before he bows out although he will be seen in the IPL. I would have personally liked him to bow out playing ODI's because he was a more prolific ODI player than Test but, that's the way this game goes.

farewell to sourav ganguly, one of the greatest indian cricketers of all time.

The actual statement was all rather low-key , almost an afterthought. "Oh , by the way fellas , this will be my last series."

   Strange.

  

Kumble only said this is my last match in Bangalore. I guess he will play the England series and the away series vs Pakistan

Ganguly's wasn't sudden mate. It wasn't a surprise either. Nobody is asking Kumble to call it quit. He probably has the cushion to retire when he wants and that is a rarity in sub continent

right time for this action but in a wrong way.

Am not sure if it was a forced decision, unless you are referring to forced as in forced by age and lack of form :)

But I really do hope this decision takes the pressure off him in the four tests and lets him play freely, 'cos really, Ganguly being his free-flowing, attacking self is one of the best parts of the so called 'fab four'

hello

Edited by Sledger - 15 October 2008 at 8:11am

Yea. Playing a 100 tests is a big enough achievment for any player and you dont save your image once you have played 100+ tests.

Well, Dada has been great to watch.  Timing was his biggest asset and he made one of the strongest comebacks into Cricket after he got dropped when Chappell was incharge.  His consistency improved too.  He wasn't that great a test player but will be quite up there as one of the best ODI player.  As typical of Indian players, he was fantastic against spin and not just that but quite brutal as well! 

I don't see that coming Comlombo. There is enough experience in the bowling department which the Aussies don't have. Sachin, Dravid, Laxman, Sehwag and Gambhir are there with DHoni as the captain.

Laxman is 33 spinny and since he is playing only one form of cricket he might as well cary on for another 3-4 years unless his knee gives him further troubles.

Dravid is one who deperately needs runs or else the axe will fall on him soon. England series may well be his last.

You can never predict when Sachin will go. Just when you feel his time is up he scores a ton and silences his critics.

So the transition phase will be a lot better than Australia's at least we have some experience in Kaif and Yuvraj as far as tests are concerned.

The main thing about winning tests is to take 20 opposition wickets. Ishant, Zaheer, RP, Sreesanth, Bhajji are fairly young yet experienced. So they can take 20 opposition wickets.

Ganguly has said he will be playing Ranji Trophy for Bengal if Bengal is in dire straits or else he will open his kits only prior to the IPL season 2.

Originally posted by mystery becuz good batsmen can be replaced...

  True , just look at the replacements the Windies have found for Lara.

I reckon you'll be alright - Laxman and Tendulkar will probably be around for another year or so, which will give Badrinath, Rohit Sharma, Pujara etc. time to get some experience and learn off of them.