Team India have been blessed with a number of outstanding captains in the last 20 years. Amongst all, Sourav Ganguly and MS Dhoni stand out for their sheer impact, longevity and aura as leaders.
From qualifying to the finals of 2003 World Cup, sharing the 2002 Champions Trophy with Sri Lanka, winning the 2004 Test series in Pakistan and drawing Test series in England and Australia – India achieved it all and a lot more with Ganguly at the helm of affairs.
Under Dhoni, India cricket team tasted huge success as well, winning the 2007 World T20, 2011 Cricket World Cup and 2013 Champions Trophy. The veteran wicketkeeper also led the team to pinnacle in Test cricket.
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Therefore, picking the best out of Ganguly and Dhoni is a tough task but the latter recently edged out the current BCCI President as India's greatest captain, in a cricketing survey.
Dhoni finished narrowly ahead of Ganguly in the survey in which the two former skippers were judged on 8 parameters.
Dhoni dominated four categories including captaincy at home, ODI captaincy, titles won and performance as a batsman while leading the side. On the other hand, Ganguly fared better in four categories – captaincy Away from Home, transformational effects of captaincy on the team, the success of team handed over to the next captain and overall impact.
The result was announced on Star Sports' Cricket Connected show after Dhoni and Ganguly were gauged across a number of captaincy parameters.
Dhoni was declared winner as he earned half a point more than Ganguly when the results of each category were tallied together.
Transforming teams: Ganguly (8.6) beats Dhoni (7.3)
ODI captaincy: Dhoni (8.1) beats Ganguly (6.8)
Away Test wins: Ganguly (7.2) beats Dhoni (5.5)
Teams left behind: Ganguly (7.8) beats Dhoni (7.6)
Achievements as a captain: Dhoni (8.5) beats Ganguly (7.2)
Batting record as captain: Dhoni (7.8) beats Ganguly (7.4)
Overall impact: Ganguly (8.1) beats Dhoni (7.9)
Former cricketers like Graeme Smith, Kumar Sangakkara, Gautam Gambhir, Irfan Pathan and Kris Srikkanth participated in the survey to decide India's greatest captain.
Gambhir was of the opinion that Ganguly gave India more world-beaters than Dhoni.
"When MS Dhoni finished [his captaincy stint], he hasn’t given enough quality players to Virat Kohli, apart from Virat Kohli himself and Rohit Sharma, or Jasprit Bumrah now. There are not too many world-beaters or probably people who win you tournaments," Gambhir told ESPNcricinfo.
He further added, "but look at what Sourav Ganguly gave to Indian cricket: Yuvraj Singh, Man of the Series in two World Cups [Yuvraj was only Man of the Series in the 2011 World Cup; Shahid Afridi was Man of the Series in the 2007 World T20], Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Virender Sehwag - these kinds of world-beaters."
Commenting on their batting skills, Gambhir stated, "In white-ball cricket, MS Dhoni hands down. But in Test cricket, Sourav Ganguly, because MS Dhoni, away from home or away from the subcontinent, doesn't even have a hundred. And Sourav Ganguly has got a hundred at Lord's, [and] in Australia."
