Unknown, Interesting Facts About Prince Of Kolkata Sourav Ganguly

Sourav Ganguly, who celebrates his birthday on 8th July, is one of the finest batters India has ever produced. Dada, as he is often called, led India for more than five years and during which the team reached the World Cup Finals in 2003. He is now the president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India(BCCI). 

Here are a few unknown facts about the Sourav Ganguly that you must know: 

1) Ganguly’s parents gave him the nickname ‘ Maharaj’, which means ‘Prince’. Later, Geoffrey Boycott fondly gave Sourav the nickname - ‘The Prince of Calcutta’.

2) Sourav is a right-hander – he writes right-handed, bowls right-handed, and does almost everything from that hand. But because his brother Snehashish, who was left-handed, Sourav held the bat left-handed so that he could use his elder brother’s kit.

3) Sourav has been a huge football fan since childhood. But due to his brother's emphasis, Sourav was enrolled in a cricket academy. Ganguly ended up replacing his elder brother Snehashish in the Bengal Ranji Trophy team.

4) Ganguly has a three-storey restaurant, Sourav’s – The Food Pavilion in Calcutta’s posh locality Park Street. The restaurant was inaugurated by Sachin in 2004. 

5) When Sourav Ganguly scored a century in Test cricket, India never lost that match. Out of his 16 Tests centuries, India had drawn 12 Tests and won 4 Test matches.

6) Sourav Ganguly is the only cricketer to win four successive Man of the Match (MoM) awards in ODIs. Ganguly earned these four MoM awards between 14th September and 21st September 1997.

7) Sourav Ganguly’s Test career average is 42.17. The most interesting fact is that his Test average never fell below 40 at any point during his entire Test career.

8) Ganguly made his debut against West Indies at Brisbane in 1992 but was dropped from the side because of his rumored "attitude" problems. It is said that Sourav refused to carry drinks onto the field for a senior cricketer, which he still denies. 

9) A 1.5 km road in Rajarhat, West Bengal is named after Sourav Ganguly. He himself unveiled a plaque containing the new name of the road, "Sourav Ganguly Avenue". 

10) Sourav Ganguly faced the first ball of the Indian Premier League(IPL). While opening the batting for Kolkata Knight Riders(KKR), Ganguly opened the batting Brendon McCullum against Royal Challengers Bangalore(RCB).