For Sourav Ganguly, an international career didn’t seem a realistic target in 1996, although he was part of the Test squad for the England tour in 1996. Five years ago, the left-hander had made his ODI debut but drifted into the sidelines thereafter, before making a comeback to the setup in 1996.

As things turned out, Navjot Singh Sidhu walked out of the tour midway due to differences with the then captain, Mohammed Azharuddin, which opened up a spot in the playing XI. The team management decided to take a punt with Ganguly, and the rest is history. On this day 29 years ago, the former India captain registered a century on their Test debut, on the third day of the second Test against England at Lord’s. What stood out was his signature offside strokeplay, threading even the most stacked of offside fields to find the fence at will.

There was a swagger in Ganguly’s strokeplay, one that defined his game and personality in equal measure. It was also a Test debut for another great-in-the-making, Rahul Dravid, and the two future legends stitched a 94-run stand between them to push India’s total. While Ganguly went on to bat a significant part of his Test career at no.5 and no.6, his debut innings came at no.3 where he showed remarkable composure in tricky English conditions. Ganguly batted for over seven hours and consumed more than 300 deliveries for his compact knock of 131.

Ganguly’s innings was not only the top score of that Indian innings but also the entire match, with another left-hander, England’s Jack Russell, being the other batter to register a ton in the game. Ganguly followed up his century on Test debut with a hundred in his very next innings at Trent Bridge, to kick-start a successful Test career, tallying 7212 runs in the longest format at an average of 42. He stroked 16 centuries and 35 fifties, and also ended his career as India’s most successful captain in Tests.