Sourav Ganguly is widely regarded as one of India's finest ODI openers.
See Also: “Sourav Ganguly backed me when I had zero backing,” says Harbhajan Singh
Ganguly has more than 11,000 runs to his name in ODI cricket while he boasts over 7000 runs in the longest format. Moreover, the ex-India skipper formed one of the most prolific opening partnerships with Sachin Tendulkar back in the 90s and 2000.
In a recent interview, former India coach Madan Lal revealed how a middle-order batsman Ganguly became one of the best openers in the world.
“We wanted to utilise Dada. I don’t know if he remembers or not. I told him ‘Dada, nothing will happen batting at no. 5. You should directly open’,” Madan Lal told Sportskeeda in a Facebook Live session.
Ganguly used to bat at No. 3 position in his first few ODIs before going down to No. 5 spot in the Singer World Series in 1996.
As he failed to make a mark in the lower order, the team management decided to try him at the top and the southpaw immediately impressed one and all. In his maiden innings as an ODI opener, Ganguly scored 54 against South Africa at Jaipur in October 1996 and never looked back.
“Every player has his own style. Ganguly had all the strokes. Every batsman needs some time to settle in. If you play out a few overs with just one-two runs, because you need to get set to the conditions. Even today, batsmen like Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane take some time,” Lal said.
“So, I told him, he was like ‘okay’. And then he never looked back. Sachin and Sourav’s partnership has been really popular for India - the two won a lot of matches for India. I was a coach at the time. I vaguely remember I might have told him this during the Sri Lanka tour,” he added.