5 Greatest ODI Knocks of Sourav Ganguly

#3 141 v South Africa, Nairobi, 2000

Knocking the defending champions out

Not much was expected out of India when they arrived at the ICC Knockout Trophy in Nairobi in 2000. As expected, they knocked Kenya out in the first game. But, with the quarter-final against world champions Australia, most Indian fans would have thought their campaign is done.

However, a newbie left-hander, who went by the name of Yuvraj Singh, had plans of his own, sending the Aussies packing and setting up a semi-final against the defending champions South Africa.

Ganguly won the toss, opted to bat and out walked the famous opening duo of Tendulkar and Ganguly. The southpaw started off with a punch through the off-side that evaded a diving Jonty Rhodes. Four.

Next, a drive through extra cover. Four. Then, Ntini was driven through the covers. Four. Ganguly kept going through a packed off-side field and kept finding the fence.

Klusner had him caught in the 30th over, only for the umpire to stretch out one arm. No ball. The on-drive, the straight-drive, the slog-sweep, they were all on display, as Ganguly put on an exhibition of champion batsmanship, knocking out the defending champions.