Dhoni and I have put focus on East Zone: Ganguly

Former skipper Sourav Ganguly today said his and the current skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni's combined success had put a lesser-known East Zone on the cricketing map of India.

The iconic left-hander from Bengal was the most successful Indian skipper till Dhoni eclipsed him with all the world title wins and Ganguly said it was really commendable.
Refusing to compare himself with Dhoni, Ganguly said: "We both have come from the East zone which has put focus in these parts. It really feels great that we both hail from the same zone."

Ganguly further said Dhoni's rise from being a ticket collector hailing from Ranchi had been phenomenal.

"I've not seen such a meteoric rise. It's quite inspirational. I've earlier seen many one-day players and played with many but as a package of batting, wicketkeeping and captaincy, Dhoni has been outstanding for India," Ganguly said at a promotional event here today.

"He's definitely one of the best finishers' of the game. Dhoni possesses tremendous match finishing ability. It's really wonderful to see the kind of ice cool nerve as well as temperament he showed in the final," Ganguly added, hailing Dhoni's match winning unbeaten knock to win India the Tri-Nation Series final against Sri Lanka.

It was only last month India had won the Champions Trophy that meant Dhoni had all the world titles under his belt and Ganguly reiterated that the Indian skipper was an all-time greatest Indian captain.

"As far as one-day cricket is concerned, Dhoni is one of the greatest captains of all times in India," Ganguly said.

Ganguly further picked his three all time greatest cricket memories of India.

"The 1983 World Cup win, which I had heard in the commentary; the 2004 Pakistan series win (under his captaincy) and the 2011 World Cup triumph (under Dhoni) will undoubtedly be the three greatest Indian cricket memories," Ganguly said.

Exactly 11 years ago, Ganguly had become famous for his shirt twirling incident at the Lord's balcony after winning the NatWest final.

Ganguly said he does not remember much about the incident but added: "what I remember more of that day was we had played well to win the NatWest Trophy. It was quite a memorable day."