Cricket lovers were waiting to see Sourav Ganguly again with the bat and as captain. As a part of celebrating 75 years of independence of the country, a charity match has been organized on September 16 at the Eden Gardens on the opening day of Legends League Cricket 2022. Sourav was made the captain of the India Maharajas team.
Ganguly, however, has decided not to enter the competition for personal reasons. However, it is not clear why exactly he took this decision. Neither Sourav nor the tournament organizers have spoken publicly about the matter. Sourav's assistant Tanya Bhattacharya clarified the decision to withdraw from Legends League.
Sourav Ganguly has to go to Dubai during the Asia Cup 2022. But in the meantime, he planned to hit the nets with the bat for Legends League Cricket 2022. Ganguly's India Maharajas had several Indian teammates from Sourav's era and that's why cricket lovers began to feel nostalgic. Sourav also told the head coach of Bengal, Laxmi Ratan Shukla that he will prepare himself for the charity match even by going to the practice of the Bengal team. India Maharajas will play the charity match against Eoin Morgan's World Giants.
However, with Sourav Ganguly stepping down, the excitement of that match will definitely drop. It is also said that the organizers are still trying desperately to convince Sourav. However, there is no indication of Sourav changing his position yet. It is not clear whether Sourav backed away from the decision to return to the field thinking about the possibility of controversy if he played such a match while he was the board president, or because of his physical condition. Everyone is looking at how Sourav or the organizers shed light on this issue.
Indian Men's Cricket team have won a total of 7 ICC trophies so far in their history. Here is a detailed article on India's performance in every ICC tournament.
India's performance in the ICCevents has been mixed in recent years. The title win over South Africa in the T20 World Cup 2024 ended India’s 11-year-long ICC title drought after it last won a global tournament back in 2013 - the ICC Champions Trophy.
Their latest triumph came via Champions Trophy 2025, as they defeated New Zealand by four wickets in Dubai in the final. It was the second consecutive ICC trophy for India under Rohit Sharma's captaincy.
So far, India have collected 7 ICC trophies including two 50 over World Cups, three Champions Trophy, and two T20 World Cups in 2007 and 2024.
Mahendra Singh Dhonihas won 3 ICC events as a captain and Rohit Sharma has 2 in those 7 ICC trophies that India won so far. In this article, SportzPoint will give you details on India's performances in every ICC tournaments so far.
ICC Cricket World Cup (1975 - 2023):
India lost the 2023 ICC World Cup final against Australia.
The International Cricket Council (ICC) started the ODI World Cup back in the year 1975. From then, ICC organized the tournament a total of 13 times. Australia are the most successful in the format as they won 6 titles so far.
India won their first World Cup under Kapil Dev back in 1983 and next under Mahendra Singh Dhoni in 2011. With 2 titles India are the second most successful team alongside West Indies in the 50 overs format after Australia.
Indian Men's Cricket team also lost two ODI World Cup finals, one under Sourav Ganguly in 2003 and another one under Rohit Sharma in 2023. Here is how India performed in the each of the 13 editions of the ICC Cricket World Cup.
India's performance in every ICC Cricket World Cup
Year
Result
1975
6th
1979
7th
1983
Champions
1987
Semi-Final
1992
7th
1996
Semi-Final
1999
6th
2003
Runner's up
2007
9th
2011
Champions
2015
Semi-Final
2019
Semi-Final
2023
Final
ICC Champions Trophy (1998 - 2025):
ICC started a new tournament of the 50 overs format in 1998 called the Champions Trophy. It was also referred as a "Mini World Cup". Till 2006 the Champion's Trophy was held every two years. After that, it continues with a gap of 4 years from 2009.
In 2003, India reached the Finals of the tournament along with Sri Lanka. As the match got washed out and India were declared joint winners.
However, India finally won the ICC Champions Trophy under MS Dhoni in 2013 after defeating England by 5 runs.
In 2025, India defeated New Zealand by four wickets in Dubai to lift the trophy for the third time. It was the second consecutive ICC trophy for India under Rohit Sharma's captaincy.
Let's take a look at India's performance in the tournament so far.
India won their latest ICC T20 World Cup in 2024. Image | ICC
International Cricket Council introduced a new format marquee tournament in 2007 as T20 Cricket started to grow globally. ICC started the T20 World Cup in the year 2007. India defeated their arch-rival Pakistan in the final that year and won the inaugural T20 World Cup under MS Dhoni.
ICC World Test Championshipstarted in the year 2019 as New Zealand won the inaugural WTC after defeating India in the ICC World Test Championship 2021 Final.
India once again qualified for the Test Championship final in 2023 and this time, it was Australia who challenged them. India bottled their chance to win an ICC trophy after waiting for a decade and lost the match by a huge margin of 209 runs.
In 2023-25 World Test Championship, India failed to qualify for the final.
Representing their side in ICC Finals is what every player dreams to do. Now, SpoirtzPoint presents you with the players who played the most ICC Finals as captain in their careers
ICC tournaments is what for every cricket player is waits for. However, reaching the finals as a captain of their national side is a different kind of achievement for any player around the globe.
Meanwhile, in this article Sportzpoint will give you the details of the players who played the most ICC Finals as captain of their side.
The former blackcaps captain Kane Williamson has played 3 ICC finals as captain. That's include, 2019 ICC ODI World Cup, 2021 WTC and 2021 T20 World Cup.
In which, Kane led his team through the finals but failed two times to lift the trophy. However, New Zealand lifted the first World Test Championship under him in 2021.
Although, Kane loses the world cup 2019 final against England on a boundary count. After the loss in 2019 NZ again loses under Kane in the T20 World Cup 2021 final against the Aussies.
Sourav Ganguly | India | 3 ICC Finals
ICC Champions Trophy 2000
ICC Champions Trophy 2002
ICC ODI World Cup 2003
The former BCCI President and Indian skipper, Sourav Ganguly has guided India in 3 ICC finals. In those finals India lost two of them.
Sourav Ganguly's only victory in an ICC tournament, 2002 ICC Champions Trophy. However, that trophy was shared with Sri Lanka. Dada had two more hits at an ICC championship but unfortunately failed.
Ganguly had taken over the reins of the Indian Team after the infamous fixing controversy. A relatively inexperienced skipper then, Ganguly did well to help India reach the finals of the 2000 Champions Trophy.
The southpaw even hit a century in that game and had the match in control, but the Kiwis chased down India's target of 265 with two balls remaining.
Later, in South Africa, Ganguly led India to the finals of the 2003 World Cup but was blown away by a dominant performance by the Aussies.
Clive Lloyd | West Indies | 3 ICC Finals
ICC ODI World Cup 1975
ICC ODI World Cup 1979
ICC ODI World Cup 1983
No true cricket fan can ever forget the name of the first-ever World Cup-winning captain Clive Lloyd.
Clive Lloyd is credited for leading West Indies to both of its ICC Cricket World Cup titles. He captained the West Indian side between 1974 to 1985 and moulded them into a dominant test-playing nation during his time.
West Indies won both the inaugural ICC Cricket World Cup in 1975 and the second Cricket World Cup in 1979 under Lloyd.
However, in 1983 ODI World Cup Clive Lloyd's team loses in the finals against India. So the carebean great played 3 ICC finals as captain for his side.
Brian Lara | West Indies | 3 ICC Finals
ICC Champions Trophy 1998
ICC ODI World Cup 1999
ICC Champions Trophy 2000
Another carebean batting giant, Brian Lara comes on the list of most ICC Finals as captain.
Lara has played 3 ICC finals as captain in his career and two of them are Champions Trophy. However, another one is ICC cricket World Cup in 1999,that they lost in the finals.
After the 1979 World Cup, West Indies had not won an ICC Trophy.
A legendary batsman, the task of winning a trophy fell on Brian Lara's shoulders. The most experienced ODI captain of the West Indies, Lara won one Champions Trophy but lost two of them in the finals.
Rohit Sharma* | India | 4 ICC Finals
ICC World Test Championship 2023
ICC ODI World Cup 2023
ICC T20 World Cup 2024
ICC Champions Trophy 2025
Rohit Sharma is now the only captain to have led his team to the finals of all International Cricket Council (ICC) tournaments: ODI World Cup, T20 World Cup, Champions Trophy and World Test Championship (WTC). And he has achieved that in just three years' time.
In 2023, India qualified for the WTC final and the ODI World Cup final, losing to Australia on both the occasions. The next year, in 2024, India won the T20 World Cup under Rohit by beating South Africa in the final.
It was India's first ICC title in 10 years and the second T20 World Cup triumph since 2007.
India defeated New Zealand by four wickets to lift the Champions Trophy 2025 title. After this Rohit joins MS Dhoni as the two captains to have led India to victory in the tournament. India previously won the title under MS Dhoni's captaincy in 2013.
Mahendra Singh Dhoni | India | 4 ICC Finals
ICC T20 World Cup 2007
ICC ODI World Cup 2011
ICC Champions Trophy 2013
ICC T20 World Cup 2014
The leader who changed the face of Indian Cricket holds the second position in the Most ICC Finals as captain list.
From winning a T20 and an ODI World Cup to taking India to the top of Test Cricket, Mahendra Singh Dhoni has done it all for the Indian Cricket Team. Apart from test mace, India has won three ICC trophies under his leadership.
Dhoni's journey of being a successful captain began when he led India to the inaugural ICC T20 World Cup win in 2007. However, his most significant achievement as the captain of the Indian Cricket team came in 2011.
Under his leadership, India finally ended their 28-year World Cup drought and defeated Sri Lanka to lift their second ODI World Cup. Almost every one of you might remember Dhoni's unbeaten 91 in the final, which was one of the factors that helped India win the trophy.
Finally, Dhoni also helped add ICC Champions Trophy 2013 to India's trophy cabinet. They defeated England and snatched victory from the jaws of defeat in the final.
Ricky Ponting | Australia | 4 ICC Finals
ICC ODI World Cup 2003
ICC Champions Trophy 2006
ICC ODI World Cup 2007
ICC Champions Trophy 2009
Former Australia skipper, Ricky Ponting is one of the most successful captains in the history of International Cricket. He made sure that Australia remains the dominating force in International Cricket after the retirement of Steve Waugh.
Ponting led Australia in 77 Tests, 230 ODIs, and 17 T20Is. Ricky Ponting led Australia to four ICC finals in his career.
Meanwhile, he wins four of them and became the most successful captain in cricket history. A fascinating thing about these four trophy wins is that they all came during just seven years, from 2003 to 2009.
Under Ponting, Australia first retained the ICC Cricket World Cup in 2003. He came out as the third-highest scorer of the tournament with three centuries and won the man of the match award in the final.
The premier domestic competition named after the first Indian cricketer, Ranjitsinhji, who was also known as 'Ranji', was launched in 1934-35 featuring 15 teams in four zones in a knockout format and has since expanded to a 32-team tournament in the league and knockout format.
The first-ever edition was won by Bombay now known as Mumbai, who have also won the Ranji title the most. Record champions Mumbai have won the Ranji Trophy 41 times so far. Mumbai has also reached the final 47 times.
Karnataka earlier played as Mysore is the second most successful team in the Ranji Trophy, having won the title 8 times and finished runners up 6 times followed by Delhi, who have won the title 7 times and finished as runners-up 8 times.
The Ranji Trophy 2024-25 has finally concluded with Vidarbha winning their third Ranji title defeating Kerala in the finals. Let's check out the last 10 winners of the Ranji title.
Fastest to score 11000 ODI runs: Rohit goes past Sachin Tendulkar, but this player is still at the top
Indian ODI captain Rohit Sharma went past Sachin Tendulkar to become the second fastest to score 11000 ODI runs during India vs Bangladesh match in ICC Champions Trophy 2025.
Indian ODI captain Rohit Sharma went past Sachin Tendulkar to become the second fastest to score 11000 ODI runs during India vs Bangladesh match in ICC Champions Trophy 2025. Rohit, who has taken 261 innings to reach the landmark, went past Sachin Tendulkar who had taken 276 innings to reach the 11000 ODI runs.
Rohit now has become only the 10th batter in history of one-day cricket to cross 11000 runs. Among the Indians, only Sourav Ganguly,Virat Kohli and Sachin Tendulkar has scored more runs than him in the format.
Rohit added a 69-run opening partnership alongside Shubman Gill against Bangladesh. Image | BCCI
Before the opening match of the ICC Champions Trophy 2025, Rohit was sitting at 10988 runs in the ODI format and needed only 12 runs to reach that landmark. However, Rohit could not go past the record of his fellow Indian teammate Virat Kohli who had taken only 222 innings to score 11000 runs in the Onde-Day format.
Rohit scored 41 runs off 36 balls as tried to go for a big shot against Taskin Ahmed in the final over of the powerplay. India were chasing 229 against Bangladesh in the first match of the tournament.
Another Indian in the top five list of fastest to score 11000 ODI runs is former Indian captain Sourav Ganguly, who had taken 288 innings to score those runs.
1⃣1⃣,0⃣0⃣0⃣ ODI runs and counting for Rohit Sharma! 🙌🙌
He becomes the fourth Indian batter to achieve this feat! 👏👏
Bengal Ranji Team in Last Three Seasons: 13 opening combinations, 22 debutants and many more numbers
Bengal Ranji Team since playing the final in 2022-23 season has not been able to reach the knockouts in last two occasions. Here are the numbers to look out from the last three seasons.
Since winning the Ranji Trophy in the 1989-90 season, when a player named Sourav Ganguly debuted for them in the final, Bengal have not been able to win the domestic title till now. From 2005 to 2007 they dominated the domestic circuit but came second twice in two seasons.
The last time they played in the Ranji Trophy knockouts was in the 2022-23 season when they lost against Saurashtra on their turf in Kolkata.
Post that final at Eden Gardens, two seasons have gone by and Bengal's quest for another Ranji Trophy title continued. In the 2024-25 season, they even failed to make it to the knockouts after average performances in the red ball format despite having a few national team players in action for them.
Despite winning the final league match vs Punjab, Bengal failed to qualify for the knockouts of Ranji Trophy 2024-25. Image | CAB
In the last few years, Bengal Cricket have been accused of multiple issues such as a lack of home-grown talents, reports of age frauds and outstation players finding it easier to make themselves local players, reports of corruption in the second division and many more.
Today, we will not cater to those areas of Bengal cricket. Rather, we will have a deep analysis of what has happened within the team.
We will dig deep into numbers to analyze and discuss what might have gone wrong in the last three seasons for Bengal in the Ranji Trophy.
Keep in mind, that we have only taken the Ranji Trophy format and data into consideration. We will discuss the white-ball numbers in a different article soon.
Numbers and More: Bengal Ranji Team in Last Three Seasons
Here are a few findings from the last three seasons of the Bengal Ranji Team, collected by Sportz Point via BCCI.tv and ESPNCricinfo.
#1 | 13 opening combinations in three seasons
Ankit Chatterjee during his debut game in Kalyani.
This has been the main pain point for Bengal in the last few seasons; the opening slot. Though they have the services of one of the Best domestic players in Abhimanyu Easwaran, they have found it hard to find a suitable partner for him.
Moreover, whenever Easwaran goes to any National team duty or India-A games, Bengal have not been able to replace him as well.
In the last three seasons, Bengal have gone for as many as 13 opening combinations. In the 2024-25 season, they had 4 different opening combinations. In the 2023-24 season, the number was 3 and in the 2022-23 season, the number was 6.
From the above list, it is quite obvious that Laxmi Ratan Shukla and the management have not been able to find a great opening pair which can last for a whole season.Though Sudip Kumar Gharami started as an opener, since he settled in at number three, Bengal has tried to use him only in that position.
Only the pair of Sourav Paul & Shreyansh Ghosh got five matches in a row in 2023-24 and the rest of them did not get that many consecutive matches to open as a pair. Yes, the availability of Abhimanyu Easwaran made that a bit tough as well.
Sumit Mohanta was the latest player to make debut for Bengal in first-class cricket. Image | CAB
Bengal team management gave first-class debut caps to as many as 22 players in the last three seasons, which largely speaks about the inconsistency this team has had.
Even if we clear out the accusations of having "club quotas" in less important games, we have a few interesting numbers to present.
In the last three seasons, only Manoj Tiwary retired from all forms of cricket and we had Wriddhiman Saha and Sudip Chatterjee moving to Tripura to play first-class cricket. Besides that, players like Mukesh Kumar and Akash Deep constantly stay busy with the national team setup.
Now, if you calculate the number of injuries to players like Ishan Porel and Shahbaz Ahmed, along with the different demands of the first-class arena, 22 debutants is a large number which can point to many distinct sections of the selection process.
Regardless of many arising questions in the Kolkata Club Cricket section, all of these 22 players performed quite well in Club cricket and age-level cricket to earn those selections. But, surely, the team combinations lacked consistency.
Players who made first-class debuts in the last three seasons for Bengal
#3 | 8 debutants played only one game in the last three seasons
Subham Chatterjee is one of those 8 debutants who played only one game in last three seasons. Image | CAB
When any team select any player, there is something they see beyond the numbers. Numbers matter but the experience and gut feeling of those selectors matter more.
But, in the case of Bengal, we have seen a lack of faith in those talents. 8 out of those 22 debutants played only one game in a season. If you discount the debuts of Sumit Mohanta and Vishal Bhati, who debuted in the last game of this season, the number is six.
Below are the players who played only one game after making debuts for Bengal in first-class since the 2022-23 season -
#4 | 17 players played two or fewer matches since the 2022-23 season
Habib Gandhi is another player who did not get a chance post his debut. Image | CAB
Here arises the question of consistency again. It might be the case of selectors or team management moving from one player to another quickly or players not impressing them enough in two games. But, a staggering17 players have played two or fewer first-class matches in the last three seasons.
Again, we should cut the names of Ankit Chatterjee, Sumit Mohanta and Vishal Bhati from the consideration since they made debuts in the last two or final games of this current season.
Players to have played two or fewer matches in the last three seasons
Sudip Gharami and Anustup Majumdar batting together in Bengal vs Baroda 2022-23 Ranji Trophy match in Kalyani.
If we take out the numbers of Bengal's top order batters, only Anustup Majumdar,Sudip Kumar Gharami and Abhimanyu Easwaran have scored the most runs for them in the last three seasons.
Bengal played the Ranji Trophy final in the 2022-23 season when all three scored more than 700 runs in a season, which was pivotal to Bengal's success. Shahbaz Ahmed and Abishek Porel played a few fighting knocks down the order for them, but that has not been good enough to turn the tables so far.
However, in the last two seasons, both Anustup and Gharami have not been able to continue that form and that was visible in the Bengal's results column.
Bengal players with the most runs in the last three seasons
2024-25
Sudip Chatterjee - 441 at 55.12
Sudip Gharami - 331 at 41.37
Anustup Majumdar - 228 at 28.50
2023-24
Anustup Majumdar 510 at 63.75
Abishek Porel 377 at 41.88
Abhimanyu Easwaran 337 at 168.50
2022-23
Anustup Majumdar 867 at 61.92
Sudip Gharami 803 at 50.18
Abhimanyu Easwaran 798 at 66.50
#6 | Suraj Sindhu Jaiswal - The Lone Warrior
Suraj Sindhu Jaiswal has been Bengal's highest wicket-taker in last two Ranji Trophy Seasons. | Image - CAB
Suraj Sindhu Jaiswal has been Bengal's only shining star in the last two seasons since making his debut in the 2023-24 season. The medium pacer took advantage of Ishan Porel's injury and the absence of Indian stars like Akash Deep and Mukesh Kumar and came out as Bengal's best performer.
Jaiswal took 31 wickets in 6 games in his first season and followed that up with 29 scalps in the next season. In both seasons, he was the highest wicket-taker for Bengal.
Not only that, he also scored his maiden first-class ton this season, showing his all-round skill.
Other than him, no Bengal player could make a name for himself in the last two seasons. Do not be surprised if Suraj gets a maiden India-A call-up soon as well.
Most wickets for Bengal since Suraj Sindhu Jaiswal's debut
2024-25
Suraj Sindhu Jaiswal 6 matches 29 wickets
Mohammed Kaif 5 matches 17 wicktes
2023-24
Suraj Sindhu Jaiswal 6 matches 31 wickets
Mohammed Kaif 6 matches 17 wickets
What future holds for Bengal Ranji Team?
Bengal Ranji Trophy captain Anustup Majumdar and head coach Laxmi Ratan Shukla during a practice session. Image | CAB
There is no doubt that Bengal has one of their greatest players Laxmi Ratan Shukla as their head coach. But, with too many changes and chops within the team, it is high time that the team management shows faith in homegrown talents and gives them a long run at a first-class level.
However, the most important thing would be that players raise their hands and perform at the domestic level. Players like Suraj Sindhu Jaiswal can be exemplary for them to learn and turn opportunities into success.
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