MS Dhoni edges past Sourav Ganguly in a survey to decide India's greatest captain

There’s no doubt over the fact that Sourav Ganguly and MS Dhoni are two of the most decorated names in Indian cricket. Be it their on-field attitude or leadership approach, both the stalwarts left no stone unturned in reinforcing Indian cricket.

The Men in Blue experienced a makeover when Ganguly was at the helm as the team climbed up to No.2 position in the ICC Test rankings. India won ICC Champions Trophy in 2002 (joint-winners) and made it to the final of the 2003 World Cup under Ganguly’s leadership. ‘Dada’ was credited for incorporating a winning mindset in the Indian side.

Dhoni, on the other hand, was known for his calm and composed on-field approach. After clinching the inaugural T20 World Cup in 2007, there was no looking back for the Ranchi stalwart as he went on to script many records to his name. Dhoni is the only captain in the history of the sport to have lifted three ICC trophies– T20 World Cup (2007), ODI World Cup (2011) and Champions Trophy (2013).

Apart from being two of India’s most successful skippers, one common aspect between Dhoni and Ganguly is the proximity in their birthdays. Dhoni celebrates his birthday on July 7 while Ganguly celebrates it a day apart on July 8.

To celebrate birthdays of both the stalwarts, Star Sports recently conducted a survey while comparing various aspects of their captaincy. In the end, Dhoni edged out Ganguly as India’s greatest captain by the narrowest of margins. The wicketkeeper-batsman’s batting skills proved to be the difference.

In each category, an average score was calculated from each panel members’ votes on the show Cricket Connected. After the results of each were totalled together, Dhoni was ahead by less than half a point.

These were the eight categories– 1. TEST CAPTAINCY RECORD (AT HOME), 2. TEST CAPTAINCY RECORD (AWAY), 3. CAPTAINCY RECORD (TEST & ODI), 4. TEAMS THEY INHERITED AND HOW THEY WERE TRANSFORMED (ACROSS FORMATS), 5. TEAMS THEY LEFT BEHIND (ACROSS ALL FORMATS), 6. BATTING RECORD AS CAPTAIN (TEST & ODI), 7. MAJOR ACHIEVEMENTS (ACROSS FORMATS), 8. OVERALL IMPACT AS CAPTAIN.

Former South Africa captain Graeme Smith, former Sri Lanka captain Kumar Sangakkara and former India openers Gautam Gambhir and Kris Srikkanth were the players who voted in the survey. Dhoni’s total came to 60.9, 0.4 points more than Ganguly’s 60.5.

Sourav had benefit of Kumble and Harbhajan: Kris Srikkanth

About the Test captaincy record of Dhoni and Ganguly at home, Kris Srikkant said that the Ranchi stalwart had a better impact because Sourav had the likes of Harbhajan and Kumble in his arsenal. While Smith pointed out that Ganguly was a huge ‘pillar’ in the strength of Indian cricket.

“See, it’s a very, very difficult comparison. If you say 2001 series against Australia, I mean definitely I think Sourav Ganguly, coming back and beating the Steve Waugh side. Overall impact in the home series, definitely I think Dhoni because Sourav had the benefit of Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh while he was playing whereas Dhoni did not have that luxury,” said Srikkanth.

“The memories that come to mind is that he (Ganguly) brought a hardness that perception wise hadn’t been there before. He was certainly quite a fiery character on the field and he certainly was a huge pillar in the strength of Indian cricket and where it’s gone to today,” said Smith.

Sangakkara, while recalling Ganguly’s captaincy, heaped praise on the fiery leadership skills of ‘Dada’. “Giving that Indian team a lot of steel, self-belief, character. Forget about winning at home. I think all sides are comfortable winning at home.

But it’s about going outside in test conditions that you are not familiar with against the best in the world and having that fire, hunger and belief to win. And I think that’s where Dada made the biggest difference to Indian cricket,” said Sangakkara.

Graeme Smith heaped praise on MS Dhoni’s batting ability

Smith also pointed out that the biggest difference between the captaincy of Dhoni and Ganguly was MSD strength to bat and finish the match while bolstering India’s middle-order.

“The biggest difference between Dada’s captaincy and MS’s captaincy is MS, the player for me. I think in that middle order, the ability to close games, win games, finish games in that calm that he brought to the people around him. I think for me, that is probably the biggest difference between the two heroes, is MS Dhoni.

If Dada had an MS type player, his team was slightly more developed, I think you would have seen him win plenty more trophies. Dada was blessed to play or not blessed to play in an era where Australian cricket was at the forefront and dominating the world game as well which at the time the team had won the most during that period,” said Smith.

‘Dada’ did a lot to create a wonderful legacy: Kumar Sangakkara

While pointing out the legacy left by both the skippers, Sangakkara said that ‘Dada’ left behind a wonderful legacy and it eventually benefitted Dhoni.

“You can be judged on a lot of things but sometimes you have to leave something behind and I think in that sense, Dada did a lot to create a wonderful legacy for others to inherit and MS benefitted from that,” said Sangakkara.

While comparing batting records of both the Indian stalwarts, Smith and Sangakkara went with Ganguly in Tests and Dhoni in the limited-overs format. Sangakkara also heaped praise on Dhoni’s ability to finish games in ODIs.

“From my perspective, it’s always difficult to move away from an opening batsman and a captain as challenging. I agree that when it comes to Test cricket, having played against MS, you would always felt that you had an opportunity to work him over, specially away and out of India, but I think when it comes to Test cricket, I’ll have to sit with Dada, but one-day cricket, certainly MS is my man,” opined Smith.

“In one-day cricket, the ability to finish, is always to me, very, very tough. So, I would go with MS for sure in limited-overs cricket, in white-ball cricket just because he batted at that tougher finisher position, but in Test cricket, without a doubt, Ganguly every day,” said Sangakkara.

Dhoni was serious about taking Indian cricket forward: Gautam Gambhir

Srikkanth also highlighted Dhoni’s overall impact as a captain being greater than Ganguly due to the trophies which he won during his tenure.

“One-day cricket, definitely Dhoni, what a man, World Cup 2011, talking about Champions Trophy, talking about wins in Australia, Sri Lanka, of course, the T20 World Cup, so as a limited-overs captain, Dhoni had a huge, huge impact, both as a captain as well as a player and as well as a wicketkeeper, don’t forget that. But in Test match cricket, it has to be only Ganguly,” pointed out Srikkanth.

Finally, on the overall impact as a captain, Sangakkara and Smith went with Ganguly due to the legacy which he left behind. Gambhir, on the contrary, went with Dhoni’s name and revealed that the former India skipper was very serious about taking Indian cricket forward.

“Obviously, both these guys have taken Indian cricket forward, but just purely from an impact point of view, I can only talk about MS Dhoni because he was very serious about taking Indian cricket forward,” said Gambhir.

“You are talking about two iconic figures and outstanding cricketers. It’s such small margins and it’s very difficult to debate, but I think, like Allan Border probably did in the early days of Australian cricket, setting them up for the success, I think that you have got to look at Dada here and say that what he did for Indian cricket was iconic,” said Smith.

“MS, exceptional player, unbelievable captain, again, has moved Indian cricket forward. But the foundation for all of that was laid by Dada for me,” opined Sangakkara.