5 careers which never took off under Sourav Ganguly's captaincy

Sourav Ganguly's reign as skipper of the Indian cricket team is widely regarded as a game changer in the history of Indian cricket as the team developed the habit of winning overseas and standing toe-to-toe with the opposition.

Ganguly took over as skipper at a time when Indian cricket was struggling to come out of the shadow cast by the match-fixing scandal.

Sachin Tendulkar briefly took over the responsibility for a short period after the match-fixing scandal, but in Ganguly, the Men in Blue found a true leader who had the inherent fire and desire to achieve greatness.

Ganguly's reign also saw several young players establish themselves in the Indian side and ultimately went on to be great players in the modern age. The likes of Yuvraj Singh, Virender Sehwag, Zaheer Khan and Harbhajan Singh are just a few worth mentioning.

However, there were quite a few players who failed to make a mark for themselves on a long-term basis despite getting enough chances to prove their mettle.

Ganguly was a skipper who demanded a lot from his players and perhaps these players couldn't quite live up to the skipper's expectations and ultimately disappeared from the international scene after a brief spell at the international level.

Let's take a look at 5 such players who made their Indian debut under Ganguly's captaincy from whom a lot was expected but ultimately failed to have a fruitful career at the international level.

#5 Reetinder Singh Sodhi

The skipper of the Under-15 World Cup winning squad and vice-captain and vital member of the 2000 Under-19 World Cup winning squad that featured the likes of Yuvraj Singh and Mohammad Kaif, a lot was expected from the talented young all-rounder from Punjab - even being heralded as the next Kapil Dev.

Reetinder Singh Sodhi made his senior national debut against Zimbabwe under Ganguly's captaincy and enjoyed moderate success against the African minnows. scoring a half-century in the fifth and final ODI of the series and followed it up with a knock of 67 against West Indies a couple of matches later.

However, runs soon started to dry out from Sodhi's bat and he proved equally ineffective with the ball failing to get the breakthrough that was expected from a player who was touted as a long-term player at the Number 6 spot for India in 50-over cricket.

The huge pressure on his shoulders was something Sodhi was unable to handle and he eventually found himself out of contention from the Indian side. He played 18 ODIs scoring 280 runs and picking up 5 wickets.

#4 Sanjay Bangar

Bangar couldn't fit in at the international level despite being a consistent performer in the domestic circuit

Another all-rounder who failed to live up to the billing at the international level for India was India's current batting coach Sanjay Bangar whose consistent performances for Railways in the Ranji Trophy earned him a call-up to the national side in late 2001.

He hit an unbeaten century in just his second Test match against Zimbabwe and found success against West Indies in both the 50-over and Test format.

However, much like Sodhi, Bangar failed to carry on from the decent start and struggled for runs as well as wickets as his much-fancied ability to swing the ball failed to yield the expected results.

Ganguly's patience, as well as that of the Indian selectors, finally ran out soon after India's tour of New Zealand in 2002 as Bangar's international career ended with 12 Tests and 15 ODIs to his name.

#3 Dinesh Mongia

Dinesh Mongia was preferred to VVS Laxman by Ganguly during India's 2003 World Cup campaign

The fact that Dinesh Mongia was preferred to VVS Laxman by Ganguly for the 2003 World cup campaign is still something that irks a lot of Indian fans.

It is no secret that Mongia enjoyed plenty of backing from Ganguly since making his debut against Australia at Pune in 2001 under his captaincy.

Mongia managed to stay in contention with a string of decent scores but had a very poor conversion rate when it came to making the good starts count.

He did, however, score a mammoth undefeated knock of 159 against Zimbabwe which no doubt helped him extend his stay in the national team though it is still a surprise that he ended up playing 57 ODIs and a solitary T2OI at the international level.

#2 Murali Kartik

Kartik found chances hard to come by due to the presence of Kumble and Harbhajan in the Indian side

Murali Kartik's international career for India can be considered unlucky to a certain extent as he found opportunities hard to come by due to the presence of Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh in the national side.

Though Kartik made his Test debut under Tendulkar's captaincy back in 2000, it was under Ganguly that Kartik made his ODI debut and enjoyed a decent run in the side.

But the Railways cricketer always found himself in and out of the side as he failed to dislodge the senior spin pairing of Harbhajan and Kumble.

Kartik did enjoy a couple of memorable spells against Australia at the international level with a Man-of-the-Match performance in the Mumbai Test in 2004 and another match-winning performance with figures of 6/27 in an ODI at the very same venue in 2007.

With just 8 Tests and 37 ODIs over a seven-year spell, it is clear that Kartik never enjoyed a continuous run in the national side and was always under constant pressure to keep performing to secure his place in the side.

#1 Parthiv Patel

Parthiv enjoyed plenty of backing from Ganguly but was often let down by his shabby glove work

Another player who enjoyed plenty of backing under Ganguly's captaincy, Parthiv Patel made history when he debuted against England at Trent Bridge in 2002 at 17 years and 153 days to become Test Cricket's youngest wicketkeeper.

He enjoyed plenty of limelight further on when he was named in India's 2003 World Cup squad and though he failed to play any matches during the tournament, it was clear that the skipper had plenty of hope from the young wicketkeeper.

Already a regular in the Indian Test side, Parthiv started playing ODIs intermittently when Rahul Dravid was eased off his wicketkeeping duties at times and though he was decent enough with the bat, his glovework wasn't winning him many fans.

His errors Down Under during India's tour to Australia in 2003/04 proved extremely costly and there reached a point where the errors were becoming too common to ignore.

And then, a certain Mahendra Singh Dhoni burst onto the scene and like other wicketkeepers in the country, there was hardly any chance to get a look in.

Though he has made a few appearances here and there for India - the most recent one being in the Test series against South Africa - the flaws in his glovework is something which is still very evident and too much to ignore at the international level.

Still only 32, Parthiv has enough time on his hands to add to his tally of 25 Tests, 38 ODIs and T20Is thus far for India.