Captain's Corner: Sourav Ganguly vs Stephen Fleming

The Gentleman’s Game, as we know it, has evolved over the years with the sport moving forward from the Test format, played in all whites, to the coloured clothing era with ODI cricket and now T20 cricket.

India’s Sourav Ganguly and New Zealand’s Stephen Fleming predominantly played their cricket in the pre-T20 era, especially when it comes to the international stage.

While they have been excellent batsmen for their respective countries with a number of records to their name, some which have stood the test of time even after years since retiring from the sport, it is their credentials as a skipper which makes them truly stand apart from the rest.

While they both have impeccable numbers to speak of, they were distinctly different from each other with Fleming a purist of the game who displayed calm on the field of play and off it, while Ganguly was anything but peaceful, often taking the fight to the opposition with his aggressive approach.

While Fleming had very little to chose from in terms of talent at his disposal, Ganguly had an abundance of options to ponder upon while selecting his squad.

Ganguly took over the mantle of captaining the Indian Cricket Team when it was engulfed in the match-fixing scandal but came out with flying colours with a young side instilling the confidence in them to stand toe-to-toe with the opposition as well as the ability to win matches overseas.

Fleming had an eventful entry as skipper as the selectors sidelined Lee Germon for the third Test against England in February 1997, thus making him the youngest Kiwi skipper at the age of 23.

Tipped to be a future captain of the side, both Fleming and Ganguly led their respective nations with immense success, moulding the careers of many promising cricketers and making them full-fledged players of international standards.

The records speak for themselves and it is always a hard task to make a distinction between two captains who scripted an era of their own with their leadership.

Let’s take a look at the statistical comparison of Ganguly and Fleming as skippers.

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1. Overall record

Having led New Zealand in 303 international matches, over a span of nearly ten years, Fleming is second only to Australia’s Ricky Ponting in the list of most international matches as captain.

Ganguly led in 196 international matches across a span of six years before his reign came to an abrupt end following the infamous altercation with Greg Chappell. He remained the most successful captain in India’s history before his feats overtaken by MS Dhoni.

Captaincy record in Tests

	Span	Matches	Won	Lost	Drawn	Win%
Sourav Ganguly	2000-2005	49	21	13	15	42.6%
Stephen Fleming	1997-2006	80	28	27	25	35

Captaincy record in ODI’s

	Span	Matches	Won	Lost	Tied	NR	Win%
Sourav Ganguly	1999-2005	147	76	66	0	5	53.52
Stephen Fleming	1997-2007	218	98	106	1	13	48.04

While Fleming has led New Zealand in 5 T20Is as well, Ganguly did not feature at all in a T20I for India, let alone lead in one.

Captaincy record in T20Is

	Span	Matches	Won	Lost	Win%
Stephen Fleming	2005-2006	5	3	2	60

Overall captaincy record

	Matches	Won	Lost	Tied	Draw	NR	Win%
Sourav Ganguly	196	97	79	NIL	15	5	49.48
Stephen Fleming	303	128	135	2	25	13	42.24

2. ICC/World events

Fleming led New Zealand to their one and only ICC glory with the 2000 Knockout Trophy success

The measure of a good captain can truly be assessed on the big stages like the World Cup or the Champions Trophy. The two factors which also needs to be considered is how far the team progresses in the competition as well as the teams that they beat along the way in getting there.

ICC ODI World Cup

	Editions	Matches	Won	Lost	NR	Win%
Sourav Ganguly	2003	11	9	2	NIL	81.8
Stephen Fleming	1999,2003,2007	31	18	12	1	58

Ganguly led the Indian side with aplomb during the 2003 world Cup campaign as they beat all sides that came their way except the all-conquering Australian side, whom they lost to on two occasions, including the final.

Fleming meanwhile led New Zealand in 3 World Cups and managed to progress to the semi-final stages on two occasions losing to Asian opposition in Pakistan in 1999 and Sri Lanka in 2007.

ICC Champions Trophy

	Editions	Matches	Won	Lost	NR	Win%
Sourav Ganguly	2000, 2002, 2004	11	7	2	2	63.6
Stephen Fleming	1998, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006	13	8	5	NIL	61.5

Though the winning percentage for Ganguly is marginally higher than that of Fleming, what the table doesn’t show is the fact that the latter came out on top when New Zealand faced Sourav Ganguly-led India in the final of the 2000 ICC Champions Trophy, chasing down the target of 265 with four wickets in hand to win their one and only major ICC honour till date.

Ganguly also tasted success in the Champions Trophy as well but it was more of a share of the spoils as the final, as well as the reserve day for the final of the 2002 Champions Trophy, was washed out forcing India to share the trophy with Sri Lanka.

3. Away Record

Ganguly inculcated the habit of winning away for India (Pic: Broder-Gavaskar trophy success achieved in Australia)

Test record away from home

	Matches	Won	Lost	Draw	Win%
Sourav Ganguly	28	11	10	7	39.28
Stephen Fleming	42	10	16	16	23.81

Ganguly is the clear winner in this one as his reign saw India change the perception that they were easy rollovers during overseas tours. Under Ganguly, India became a confident side away from home who gave the opposition a fitting contest on their home turf.

ODI record away from home

	Matches	Won	Lost	Tied	NR	Win%
Sourav Ganguly	111	58	48	0	5	52.3
Stephen Fleming	139	54	74	1	10	38.8

Yet again, Ganguly comes out on top with a more than 50% win percentage in ODIs away from home.

4. Home record

New Zealand were a tough opposition to face at home with Fleming making good use of the conditions

Both India and New Zealand are known for playing to their strengths of spin and green tops on their respective home turfs and both Ganguly and Fleming have benefitted from it as the numbers indicate.

Test record at home

	Matches	Won	Lost	Draw	Win%
Sourav Ganguly	21	10	3	8	47.62
Stephen Fleming	38	17	11	10	44.73

ODI record at home

	Matches	Won	Lost	Tied	NR	Win%
Sourav Ganguly	36	18	18	NIL	NIL	50
Stephen Fleming	79	44	32	NIL	3	55.69

5. Runs as captain

Ganguly’s best knock as skipper came against Australia when he hit 144 at Brisbane during the 2003/04 season

Runs as skipper in Test Cricket

	Matches	Innings	Runs	Avg	HS	100s/50s
Sourav Ganguly	49	75	2561	37.66	144	5/13
Stephen Fleming	80	135	5156	40.60	274*	8/31

Runs as skipper in ODI cricket

	Matches	Runs	Avg	HS	100s/50s
Sourav Ganguly	147	5104	38.67	144	11/30
Stephen Fleming	218	6295	32.79	134*	7/38

By virtue of his longevity as skipper, Fleming trumps Ganguly in both Tests and ODIs with more runs under his belt in both the formats as skipper. While Ganguly’s numbers did take a hit under the pressure of captaincy, Fleming was never one who had great numbers, to begin with.

Ganguly’s best knock as captain undoubtedly has to be his innings of 144 against Australia at Brisbane which set the tone for India’s tour Down Under in 2003/04. Defying the barrage of short balls, he played a captain’s knock to rescue India in that opening Test match as the tourists eventually emerged the top side, albeit earning only a 1-1 draw in the four-Test series.

Fleming’s best knock as skipper came in ODI cricket when he guided New Zealand to victory over South Africa with an undefeated 134 helping his side chase down a rain-adjusted target of 229 off 39 overs. He scored his runs off just 132 balls as the Kiwis cruised to a 9-wicket victory.

6. Luck at the toss

Ganguly called the toss better than Fleming during their career as captain

Not exactly a parameter upon which captaincy credentials should be measured and one in which good fortune plays a big part, but nonetheless, success at the toss has a huge bearing on the outcome of matches and it is hence a hugely significant one in the modern game.

Test cricket

	Matches	Toss won	%
Sourav Ganguly	49	21	42.85
Stephen fleming	80	37	34.48

ODI cricket

	Matches	Toss won	%
Sourav Ganguly	147	74	50.3
Stephen Fleming	218	106	48.62