5 most successful opening batsmen for India in ODIs

Sourav Ganguly

At one point, Dada was the best ODI batsman in the world.

One half of ODIs best opening duo of all time, former Indian captain Sourav Ganguly was just as good as an opener as his partner(more on him later). Such was Ganguly's batting credibility that fellow teammate Rahul Dravid was forced to say these words - "On the off side, first there is God, then Dada."

He was so good at the top of the order that at a certain point of his career that he was regarded as one of the best batsman in the shorter format. Alhough he often altered his batting position during his tenure as captain, his exploits at the top of the order are well documented.

'The Prince of Kolkata' batted for India in 300 ODI innings, and he opened the innings in 236 of them. At an average of 41.57, slightly above his career average of 41.02, Ganguly scored 9146 runs while opening for India. He scored 19 ODI centuries as an opener, which includes his career best knock of 183 against Sri Lanka in 1999 World Cup.