On This Day in 1997: Sourav Ganguly produces best bowling spell of his ODI career

Sourav Ganguly was adjudged as Man of the Match for his five-wicket haul.

By Vibhanshu Kumar

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On This Day in 1997- Sourav Ganguly's best bowling of his ODI Career
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On This Day in 1997- Sourav Ganguly's best bowling of his ODI Career (X/Twitter)

Several legends in Indian cricket have built their legacy through their magnanimous batting or with their impeccable bowling skills. However, more often than not, allrounders are attributed to play a major role in both the departments which can change the complexion of a match. But interestingly, there is one more side to it. That side is a player who is majorly famous for batting prowess or being a part-time bowler contributing with some overs in the middle as and when a team needs it.

However, not many know that the 'Prince of Calcutta' aka Sourav Ganguly, was quite a skilled bowler as well with his sharp medium pace bowling. While teams often consider medium pace as not much of a threat, 'Dada' as the former Indian skipper fondly known, broke the glass ceiling by producing one of the most thrilling bowling spells in ODI cricket.  On This Day, on September 18, in 1997, Team India clashed with their arch-rivals Pakistan in the Sahara Cup ODI series, in Toronto, Canada.

Notably, in those days teams used to play the ODI format in white kits, hence for the unversed, the white-ball and coloured jerseys replaced the traditional playing methods later on in the years to follow. Now Speaking of the series, Team India had the best of starts as they won the first two ODIs. The spirited Sachin Tendulkar-led side wanted to continue the winning momentum in the third ODI.

Initially, the first third ODI game which was played, saw Pakistan batting well with the score reading 169/3, before the match was called off due to persistent rains. Notably, even in that game, Ganguly had two victims to his name. However, the following day, India were put in to bat first as the match was restarted. While the Indian side put up a modest 182 runs on the board on a pitch which was difficult to bat on.

In reply, Pakistan were cruising well at one stage with 87/2 and suddenly found themselves staring down the barrel with Sourav Ganguly taking matters into his hands. Though he could not contribute much with the bat, Dada went on to produce the best ODI bowling performance of his career for India. Ganguly delivered a match-defining bowling spell.  He claimed the wickets of Ijaz Ahmed, Saleem Malik, Hasan Raza, Moeen Khan and Aaqib Javed, respectively.

Check out Dada's most memorable ODI bowling spell here:

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We have a secret weapon, Sourav Ganguly: Tendulkar

Notably, he proved quite frugal as during his 10-over quota, Dada only conceded 16 runs and claimed a five-wicket haul. Not just that, but during the spell he also bowled three maiden overs, which displayed his impact on the match. As a result, Pakistan's batting lineup crumbled like a deck of cards and got bundled for 148 runs and lost the game and the series by 34 runs.

For his bowling heroics, Ganguly was adjudged as the Man of the Match. Interestingly, players like Malik were seemingly doing well and Indian bowlers were finding it hard to get him out cheaply. So in the post-match presentation, Captain Sachin Tendulkar famously said that Ganguly was "our secret weapon." In the following games, Team India won the fourth ODI as well, however, failed to inflict a clean sweep over Pakistan as the ODI series concluded 4-1 in India's favour. Hence, in the aftermath, it would be apt to say that Ganguly was a silent assassin with the ball on his day.

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