Sourav Ganguly Vs Ravi Shastri | 2 Legends Compared

Introduction

Sourav Ganguly Vs Ravi Shastri side-by-side tabular comparison is a must if you wish to find out how they are similar and different. While it is true that their career doesn’t overlap much in terms of their playing years, but a factual overview of the statistics will bring more clarity.

What Are They as of Now?

While Sourav is the sitting president of the BCCI, Shashtri is currently coaching the Indian team. Under Ganguly’s watch, IPL was conducted in the UAE in 2020 and the team has been performing well too with Shashtri’s efforts as the head coach.

Sourav Ganguly Vs Ravi Shastri Basic Comparison

Let’s now proceed with talking about their batting career (international and domestic).

Sourav Ganguly Vs Ravi Shastri ODI Career Compared

As it can be clearly seen, Ganguly’s ODI career was quite prolific and his batting average too was better than Shastri. Though a point to note here is that Ravi had to retire early at the age of 31 because of a recurring knee injury.

A strange observation about Dada is that he has scored a disproportionate number of the 50s as compared to centuries. This clearly shows that while doing this helped him to maintain his average, this also meant that he wasn’t able to convert these into centuries.

Sourav Ganguly Vs Ravi Shastri Test Career Compared

This is where it looks like we might be able to compare them in a just manner. While Dada does beat Ravi Shastri in terms of average but the margin isn’t that much. Since the 50s by Shastri aren’t that much, this does suggest that he didn’t get dismissed way too early on many of his innings. Sourav’s test debut came very late as compared to his ODI debut as you might have noticed as well.

Sourav Ganguly Vs Ravi Shastri Comparing First-Class Career

Both played near about the same number of matches and have an almost equal average too. While the difference isn’t there in the total number of centuries as well, it is there in the half-centuries.

They both seem to be those types of batsmen who are carbon copies in terms of performance record in first-class cricket.

Sourav Ganguly Vs Ravi Shastri Comparing List A Career

Those who have been reading would have noticed that Ganguly’s high score in List A cricket is the same as his ODI one (183). Another similar pattern here is the comparatively greater number of the 50s by Ganguly. Ravi Shastri is far behind Dada when it comes to List A cricket batting stats.

Sourav Ganguly Vs Ravi Shastri Bowling Stats

The reason we didn’t compare bowling statistics in the main tables above is that while Ravi Shashtri was an all-rounder, Sourav was mainly a batsman. Nevertheless, here are the stats of both the players as bowlers.

Sourav Ganguly Vs Ravi Shastri Controversy

They both were also involved in a feud in which Sourav Ganguly implied that as a coach Shastri wasn’t taking his job seriously. The reason which many cited was that Virat Kohli was being given a free hand and as a result, the discipline of the team was suffering. Nevertheless, things look good as of now as team India won the Border Gavaskar Trophy (2020-21).

Controversies Between Shastri And Ganguly

Important events:

• Shastri gets appointed as the team director of the team as India gets defeated by Australia in the semi-finals.
• Interview process starts for the position of head coach in 2016. Ravi gets rejected. He isn’t satisfied with that.
• Anil Kumble gets chosen as head coach of Indian cricket team in 2016 instead of Shastri.
• Shastri doesn’t stop here and alleges that:

1. One of the selection committee members wasn’t present at the time (implying the absence of Ganguly) and this wasn’t respectful to the selection procedure.
2. The person in question (Sourav again) has disrespected the candidate (him) and has done disrespect to what he was expected to do too.
3. As for the next time, it is better if you (Dada) are present in any meeting, more so when one as significant like the one you missed.

• Dada says if the wannabe coach feels he got rejected because of him, then he is living in a ‘fool’s world’.
• Sourav also takes a dig at he must have been physically present instead of enjoying holidays in Bangkok. Ganguly also signalled him that he should behave in a more ‘mature’ way before deciding to take things into the public domain.
• On 23^rd October 2019, Sourav Ganguly becomes BCCI President.
• Shastri is currently the head coach with his ongoing tenure ending in 2021 till the T20 World Cup.

The Whole Deal Explained

While many may speculate, who was at fault out of the both but we do have ample information to do an objective analysis. Nevertheless, there are some things that are very clear about all this.

Shastri’s Dissatisfaction

While it is true that he is a well-known former Indian cricketer, getting rejected was something he took personally. If Shastri had been an aspiring cricketer and pulled up a stunt like this, people would have understood that it is possibly out of he or she being immature. The reason he gave for his possible disappointment wasn’t something that made sense either. Ravi knew that he couldn’t say a word against Anil Kumble or his capability as a would-be coach.

So, he picked a soft target whose absence he believed was the real reason for his rejection. What he didn’t try to figure out is that Sourav had to head over to attend something else too and the initial interviews took too much time. Now, there is a chance that he probably knew this but simply wanted to vent out what he felt at someone.

But we can all agree that saying things like Sourav knowingly disrespecting him by doing so was a preposterous statement. And asking Ganguly to be present at such meetings in future was as if a teacher scolding a child for something he didn’t even do deliberately.

Sourav Shows Us Why He Is Called Dada (Pun Intended)

Dada wasn’t deterred or scared by these statements and even indirectly called Shastri a fool. He too gave a befitting reply to Shastri’s by taunting him for being in Bangkok at the time instead of being physically present in the interview.

Though he too escalated things by saying this. Nevertheless, he too chided Shastri for taking these things into the public domain. This was a valid point. If Ravi had any issues, he could have written an email to the BCCI or even talked with Ganguly as there are rarely any rivalries amongst Indian cricketers or former cricketers.

Why Bringing This Into Public Domain Is A Bad Idea?

The thing is the interview was about who was going to be the head coach of the team. We all know how important a process that must be as the team’s performance depends on it. No doubt that Ravi was a great player of his time but he could or should have acknowledged the fact that Anil Kumble was thought by the selectors to be a better choice.

Shastri was thought to be a candidate that was suitable to be interviewed for a job on which the hopes of more than a billion people depend indirectly.

The Current Situation

Shastri is what he wanted to be today. The head coach of the Indian cricket team. Yes, it is totally possible that Virat Kohli may have played a role in that. Sourav is the president of the BCCI though. He has also expressed that he has never held anything against Shastri and that is a good thing.

Trolls however are busy spreading conspiracy theories like Shastri drinks a lot and so on. Even if he does, it is his personal choice. We shouldn’t comment anything about what he should do in his personal life.

Conclusion

Hopefully, this Sourav Ganguly vs Ravi Shastri article has helped you in gaining an insight into what their capabilities were as a cricketer. They haven’t stopped contributing to cricket in India as we mentioned above. Hopefully, they will help cricket in India become better with each passing day.

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