Early and personal life

Sourav Ganguly was born on 8 July 1972 in Calcutta, and is the youngest son of Chandidas and Nirupa Ganguly.^[14][15] Chandidas ran a flourishing print business and was one of the richest men in the city.^[16] Ganguly had a luxurious childhood and was nicknamed the ‘Maharaja’, meaning the Great King. Ganguly’s father Chandidas Ganguly died at the age of 73 on 21 February 2013 after a long illness.^[17]

Ganguly was educated at St. Xavier’s Collegiate School, Kolkata.^[18] He was then graduated in commerce from the St. Xavier’s College, Kolkata.^[19]

Since the favourite sport for the people of Calcutta was football, Ganguly was initially attracted to the game. However, academics came in-between his love for sports and Nirupa was not very supportive of Ganguly taking up cricket or any other sport as a career.^[20][21] By then, his elder brother Snehasish was already an established cricketer for the Bengal cricket team. He supported Ganguly’s dream to be a cricketer and asked their father to get Ganguly enrolled in a cricket coaching camp during his summer holidays. Ganguly was studying in tenth standard at that time.^[22]

Despite being right-handed, Ganguly learnt to bat left-handed so he could use his brother’s sporting equipment.^[20] After he showed some promise as a batsman, he was enrolled in a cricket academy. An indoor multi-gym and concrete wicket was built at their home, so he and Snehasish could practice the game. They used to watch a number of old cricket match videos, especially the games played by David Gower, whom Ganguly admired.^[16] After he scored a century against the Orissa Under–15 side, he was made captain of St Xavier’s School’s cricket team, where several of his teammates complained against what they perceived to be his arrogance.^[20][23] While touring with a junior team, Ganguly refused his turn as the twelfth man, as he reportedly felt that the duties involved, which included organising equipment and drinks for the players, and delivering messages, were beneath his social status.^[24] Ganguly purportedly refused to do such tasks as he considered it beneath his social status to assist his teammates in such a way.^[25] However, his playmanship gave him a chance to make his first-class cricket debut for Bengal in 1989, the same year that his brother was dropped from the team.^[20][26]

He is married to Indian classical dancer dancer Dona Ganguly, with whom he has a daughter Sana (b. 2001).^[20]

Health

On 2 January 2021, Ganguly complained of chest pain while exercising and was later diagnosed with three blocked coronary arteries which had led to a mild cardiac arrest. He underwent primary angioplasty for one of the blockages on the same day.^[27][28]