Now this is a new title. The godfather of cricket is a title not much used by fans and experts, but it is given to people who have done a lot for the sport in their own way.
We all know that Sachin Tendulkar is the God of Cricket for his sheer brilliance with the bat. Having scored over 30000 international runs for India across a 24-year-log career, coupled with him arguably being the greatest batsman of all time makes him the God of this sport.
But that is not what we are discussing today, unlike a god, a godfather’s influence, more than their own career, can be seen in the legacy they left behind and how they built players and teams around them.
While yes, Sachin Tendulkar has left his indelible mark on Indian cricket, a godfather of Indian cricket is a leader who changed the culture of the team, and brought up and nurtured several more players. For a player to be the Godfather, they will likely be the team, captain, but not only that, their captaincy tenure would be long and influential.
With all that being said, who are the three players who can be called godfather of cricket in India:
The Godfather Of Indian Cricket: Top 3 Names
3) Sunil Gavaskar
While It is Kapil Dev who went down in the history books as the captain of the World Cup-winning team in 1983, it was Sunil Gavaskar who led the side for most years in that era. In fact, Kapil’s tenure, which peaked with the World Cup triumph, lasted just over a year, with Gavaskar being named the captain before and after that.
So why is Sunil Gavaskar a Godfather of Indian cricket? It has more to do with his influence on the team. The first batter to break the 10000 runs mark in Test cricket, in his time, the little master was considered the greatest batter since Don Bradman. One of the first global celebrities in India, Sunil Gavaskar played a massive role in cricket becoming the most popular sport in India, surpassing hockey somewhere in the 1970s.
While yes, the likes of Ravi Shastri and Kapil Dev made their debuts under Gavaskar’s captaincy, it is obvious that it is his influence on cricket across the nation, the rise of India in cricket across the world under him, and his being the greatest batter of his era is what makes him godfather of Indian cricket.
2) Sourav Ganguly
We do not need to bestow the title of a cricket godfather upon Sourav Ganguly as he has a similar title of his own, Dada. Sourav Ganguly was arguably the most influential captain in Indian history before a certain wicketkeeper from Jharkhand showed up.
Ganguly brought intensity and aggression into Indian cricket, one that was not present before. Considered ‘good boys’ of world cricket, the left-hander from Kolkata not only stood face to face with Australians who were famous for sledging and distracting players on the field, but he also influenced his team to do so as well. He even looked to bring players with a rebellious streak in them.
He also never saw eye-to-eye with BCCI. This might have cost him as well, as he was ousted from captaincy in 2006 because of his issues with the board. But this came full circle when he became the Chairman of the BCCI in 2019, thus making him the ultimate godfather of Indian cricket.
Not only that, but Sourav Ganguly is also the godfather of young cricketers, as countless players made their debuts and were nurtured under him. The likes of MS Dhoni, Yuvraj Singh, and Zaheer Khan, names who would have a massive influence on Indian cricket of their own made their debuts under Dada.
Also, players like Virender Sehwag and Harbhajan Singh, who had made their debuts before Ganguly’s captaincy, realized their true potential and became mainstays of the team under him.
But what might be Sourav Ganguly’s greatest legacy in cricket which makes him the Godfather of Indian cricket is his role in bringing Indian cricket out of the doldrums of match-fixing, a cloud that engulfed the sport in this country in the late 1990s and threatened to weaken cricket’s grasp on Indian audiences.
1) MS Dhoni
Who else would be the true and #1 Godfather of Indian cricket but MS Dhoni? Having made his debut for the national team in 2005, Dhoni was named captain of the Indian team that was going for the new-minted World T20 in 2007 after most seniors refused to play in the tournament. So what does MS do, win the tournament of course, because that is the kind of mentality and dominance Dhoni brought to team India.
The first captain to win over half his matches for India, Dhoni’s accolades as the leader of the team are far too many to count. Not only did he win the first edition of the tournament that would later be called the T20 World Cup, but he also led India to a World Cup win on home soil in 2011. Completing the trifecta of ICC trophies, he also won the 2013 Champions Trophy in England. The achievements don’t end here, as it was under MS Dhoni when India became the #1 ranked Test team in the World for the first time in 2009.
While much of Dhoni’s legacy in Indian cricket might be defined by his biggest wins, his greatest contribution has come with the players who have made their international debuts under him. All the superstars in Indian cricket today made their debuts under Dhoni – be it Virat Kohli, Hardik Pandya, Jasprit Bumrah, Shikhar Dhawan, Ravindra Jadeja, or Ravichandran Ashwin. Even Rohit Sharma, who made his debut a year before Dhoni’s captaincy, became one of the best batters in the world under the Jharkhand wicketkeeper.
His winning record, the trophies he has won, and the players that have prospered under him make MS Dhoni the true godfather of Indian cricket.
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