Ganguly, Dravid, Dhoni: Who's the Best Captain?

Bangalore: All three had captained the Indian team (One still does) - in three different styles and all the three are at very different stages of their careers today but the Indian Premier League (IPL) brings them together on a single platform where their leadership skills are evaluated them - Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid and MS Dhoni once again – quite differently.

All the three have contributed immensely to Indian cricket and many argue that a comparison of these outstanding three is unfair. However, debate, undoubtedly, is also the best part of watching sport. And there is the IPL battle being played out in front of us and so, we can be the judges of the present without much of assumptions and imaginations.

There is a difference, a unique feel that Sourav Ganguly brings on to the cricketing field when he takes over the captaincy. And today when he is back with his leadership tactics on the field, the nostalgia begins to jumpstart among the cricket frenzy Indian crowd.

Ganguly’s inputs as the captain of Pune Warriors have been noticeable when his side overthrew the Mumbai Indians on the third match of IPL V. The furious captain rung in the changes and with his unique style, he made some remarkable field placements and as always, he was constantly looking for wickets.

Ganguly who took over the captaincy of Indian team at a very tumultuous period with a task of lifting a team that lost its credibility to the match-fixing controversy. He did rebuild the side reeling from the fallout and had to battle the odds stacked against the Indian team such as “tigers at home and lambs away.” The flamboyant captain created a team that wants afraid of anyone, just like Ganguly who always spoke his mind and dared the orthodox as he took off his shirt at the Mecca of cricket – eventually making the Indian team an aggressive and confident unit.

As today he leads a unit of new commerce, it should be noted that it was with his backing, India saw the emergence of a bunch of talented youngster like Yuvraj Singh, Virender Sehwag, Zaheer Khan, and Harbhajan Singh etc. And in the absence of Yuvraj, Ganguly comes to the Pune Team as its captain and mentor, with a not-so-good record in KKR, to prove something and a motivated Ganguly can do wonders.