Having played a total of 369 international matches across formats with each other, legends Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid had put together numerous memorable partnerships much to the delight of their fans. In addition to doing justice to their on-field skill as a pair, the duo had once also chuffed their followers to bits with a briefly-lived off-the-field skill.
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Calling a Test match for Star Sports Network during India’s tour of England 2014, Ganguly and Dravid indulged in a competitive round of pulling each other’s leg over a statistic which reflected that the former was under bowled by the latter during India’s tour of England 2007. Although in fit of a light-hearted banter, Ganguly expressed his displeasure with then-captain Dravid for exhibiting little faith in him to deliver for the side with the ball in comparison to Master Blaster Sachin Tendulkar.
The comparative numbers from the tour which reflected on the screen clearly leaned towards Ganguly’s side as well. As opposed to the 38 overs bowled by Tendulkar, the left-handed batter had bowled just 28 throughout a three-match series. Not only had Ganguly picked a wicket more than Tendulkar, his economy rate of 2.3 was also pretty impressive than him (4).
As Ganguly boasted about his economy rate from behind the microphone, Dravid upped his sledging game by referring to cricketer-turned-commentator Sanjay Manjrekar‘s words which opined how the “Prince of Kolkata” would’ve emerged to be a match-winner had he “been a yard quicker and just a little bit fitter!”
A competitive player that he had always been, Ganguly gave it back to Dravid akin a quick-witted comedian. Touché.
“I wish I was Prime Minister of India. I could have done whole lot of things,” remarked Ganguly.
As the banter continued with Ganguly then reminding Dravid and illustrious broadcaster Harsha Bhogle about his economical eight-over spell in the first innings at Trent Bridge, Bhogle perfectly summarized the situation by stating that the reason Ganguly was under bowled by Dravid was perhaps because, when he was the Indian captain, he made the latter don the wicket-keeping gloves!
Flashback Friday: Ganguly and Dravid engaging in a friendly banter in the comm box. pic.twitter.com/GjRqEN3SXY
— Shilpak. (@ugach_kahitarii) November 17, 2023
Who Was The Better Bowler Between Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly?
Taking Test cricket into consideration first, there is not much really that separates between Tendulkar and Ganguly’s bowling skills. While Ganguly had picked 32 wickets across 99 innings, Tendulkar had returned with 46 wickets after bowling 145 times.
Having said that, Ganguly’s medium-paced deliveries were considered a threat for openers occasionally as he bowled with a new ball as many as 10 times in the longest format. Although in the absence of a second fast bowler, the right-handed bowler had once even proved to be a menace for the Australian batters during the Kolkata Test in 1998.
After pacer Javagal Srinath dismissed two top-order batters in the very first over of the match, Ganguly kept the pressure on from the other end. Ultimately, during the 10th over of the innings, one of his away-swingers found the edge of visiting skipper Mark Taylor’s bat through to wicket-keeper Nayan Mongia. He finished the innings with figures of 3/28 and played a crucial role with the bat as well in helping India win the match by an innings and 219 runs.
In the ODIs, Ganguly was perhaps more than just another regular part-time bowler, having scalped 100 wickets across 171 innings. A couple of his performances stand out in this format as well, which had arrived during a five-match ODI series against Pakistan in 1998.
During the first match in Toronto, after Pakistan getting off to a decent start with the scoreboard reading 1/71, Ganguly removed the likes of Aamer Sohail, Inzamam-ul-Haq, and Abdul Razzaq and helped reducing them to 189 on the back of bowling figures of 3/33.
Again, during the third ODI, he was at his lethal best with the ball in hand. After getting bowled out at the score of 182, India were in a spot of bother with Pakistan placed at 79/1. However, Ganguly’s swing and disciplined bowling absolutely broke the back of their batting order, as he scalped a match-winning five-wicket haul (5/16) to help clinch his side a memorable 34-run victory.
Tendulkar, on the other hand, with 154 wickets across 270 innings including two five-wicket hauls and four 4-wicket hauls, had all the qualities a captain could ask for in a part-time bowler. Some of his bowling performances with distinction during nail-biting situations were worth the gold dust.
During Hero Cup 1993 semi-final against South Africa, he defended six runs off the last over by making Allan Donald dance to his tunes thrice in a row. Previously in 1991, during a Benson & Hedges World Series fixture against West Indies, Tendulkar was handed the final over in a need to defend six runs. Post conceding five runs off as many balls, he dismissed Anderson Cummins to register a tie.
Notably, both his five-wicket hauls and three out of his four 4-wicket hauls in ODIs had arrived when India were defending a target.
Overall, across both the formats, there is a significant gap between Tendulkar (416 innings) and Ganguly (270 innings) with respect to the numbers of matches they have had the ball in their hand. With averages of 46.53 and 41.89 respectively, there is arguably not a clear winner considering the gulf in sample size or from an objective viewpoint based on numbers.
