5 Great cricketers who are the product of Sourav Ganguly's regime

5 Great cricketers who are the product of Sourav Ganguly’s regime: The former Indian skipper Sourav Ganguly is renowned as the man who turned around the fortunes of Indian cricket with his aggressive and fierce attitude on the field. Ganguly always believed in giving it back to the opponents and had a swagger of his own. He had taken over the reins of Indian cricket when it had lost the faith of general public at large after as many as six players of the team were caught in the match-fixing scandal. Dada changed the image of the Indian team from a bunch of guys who were soft and nice to a team which played hard and aggressive brand of cricket. Ganguly was able to make the team believe that it can win overseas Tests, a thing which remained out of India’s folklore of cricket for many eras and decades. He backed up the youngsters to the hilt and even didn’t hesitate in taking on the selectors for them. And now we see all those players turned out to be great servants for Indian cricket. Today, let’s have a look at 5 Great cricketers who are product of Sourav Ganguly’s regime: 1. MS Dhoni: (Photo Source: PTI) MS Dhoni is regarded as one of the greatest Indian skippers, but it was under Sourav Ganguly’s captaincy that he started his career. His first international series was the tour of Bangladesh in 2004/05 in which he fared up poorly. After that, he was about to be dropped from the side for the ODI series against Pakistan but Sourav backed him and made the selectors pick him in the squad. And then MSD stood upon the faith of his skipper and played a brute knock of 148 runs at Vishakhapatnam in the series. And as they say, the rest is history. Dhoni went on to scale mammoth heights of grandeur and kudos for his nation. 2. Virender Sehwag: Virender Sehwag. (Photo Source: Getty Images) The dashing Indian opener, Virender Sehwag started his international career as a middle-order batsman. But Sourav Ganguly spotted the talent of this breath-taking Delhi lad and promoted him to the opening position. Ganguly even vacated the opening slot for him and batted at no.3 position in later part of his career. He didn’t disappoint his skipper as well and turned out to be one of India’s greatest openers of all time. Viru is said to have revolutionized opening batting in Tests and plays a very aggressive brand of cricket which is like very rarely seen before. In early days of his career, he was backed up by Dada to the hilt. 3. Yuvraj Singh: (© Getty Images) Yuvraj Singh made his debut under Sourav’s captaincy in ICC Knockout Trophy in 2000. He made an early impression as well as he blasted a match-winning knock of 84 runs against Australia in the tournament and won the trust of his skipper. After that, Yuvraj went on to become one of the most important members of the new Indian side after the match-fixing scandal. Ganguly backed the dashing Indian southpaw even when he suffered from the slump in form and Yuvi didn’t let him down as well as he thrived under his captaincy. Yuvi has even openly admitted that Ganguly is the best captain under whom he has played. 4. Harbhajan Singh: Harbhajan Singh. (Photo Source: Getty Images) Harbhajan Singh’s career took an upward curve after the India V Australia Test series of 2001 in which Bhajji scalped 32 wickets in 3 Tests and helped India win the series by 2-1. You would be shocked to know that before this Test series, there were chances that the off-spinner might not even find a place in the side. But Sourav fought for his inclusion in the side and stood firmly by him. He didn’t even hesitate in going against the wishes of the selectors. Even Harbhajan has emphasized many times how Ganguly made the team believe that they can win overseas Tests. Bhajji had even openly supported Dada after he was axed from the side in the wake of Chappell-Ganguly controversy. 5. Zaheer Khan: Zaheer Khan. (© Getty Images) One of the greatest Indian pacers, Zaheer Khan also made his debut alongside Yuvraj Singh under the leadership of Ganguly in the ICC Knockout Trophy in 2000. He was one of Sourav’s blue eyed boys in the side. And why he wouldn’t be? Zack possessed all the ingredients to be a successful fast bowler. The former Indian skipper backed him very strongly in the side. Zaheer is the second leading wicket-taker for India in Tests with 311 scalps while in ODI cricket he has claimed 269 wickets and is the 3rd highest wicket-taker for India. The left-arm pacer was the joint highest wicket-taker in India’s World Cup winning campaign of 2011.