Debut and early career

Following a prolific Ranji season in 1990-91,^[12] Ganguly made his One Day International debut for India against West Indies in 1992,^[1] and scored just 3 runs.^[13] He was dropped immediately since he was perceived to be "arrogant" and his attitude to the game was openly questioned.^[14] He toiled away in domestic cricket, scoring heavily in the 1993-94 and 1994-95 seasons^[15][16] Following an innings of 171 in the 1995-96 Duleep Trophy,^[17] he was recalled to the national side for the tour of England in 1996 amidst intense media scrutiny.^[14] He played in one ODI,^[18] but was omitted from the team for the first test. However, after Navjot Sidhu left the touring party citing ill-treatment by the capatin Mohammed Azharuddin,^[19] made his Test debut at Lord's alongside Rahul Dravid, in what was umpire Dickie Bird's last test.^[20] He scored a century, becoming only the third cricketer to score a century on debut at Lord's, after Harry Graham and John Hampshire. Andrew Strauss and Matt Prior have since accomplished this feat, but his 131 still remains the highest by any batsman on his debut at Lord's.^[21] In the next Test match at Trent Bridge he made 136, thus becoming only the 3rd batsman to make a century in each of his first two innings (after Lawrence Rowe and Alvin Kallicharran). He shared a 255 run stand with Sachin Tendulkar, which became at that time the highest partnership for India against any country for any wicket outside India.^[22]