Sourav Ganguly's Childhood Coach Ashok Mustafi Dies

Sourav Ganguly’s coach in his formative years Ashok Mustafi died after a prolonged illness on Thursday morning. Mustafi is survived by a daughter, who is based in London. The veteran coach, who was associated with Dukhiram Cricket Coaching Centre, was suffering with heart-related ailments and was admitted to hospital in April.

Ganguly was put under the mentoring of Mustafi by his father during his childhood days. It was Mustafi who shaped up the career of the finest India captain in the earlier days. “He was suffering from heart-related ailments and was admitted to a hospital in April. Early this morning he suffered a cardiac arrest and breathed his last,” a family source told PTI.

Ganguly and his friend Sanjay Das had made all the arrangements for his coach, whose conditions start to worsen last month, PTI reported. In 1992, Mustafi joined Howrah Union before associating himself with a coaching centre near his residence in Saltlake, the report added.

Ganguly was attracted to the playing style of David Gower. The former India captain scored most of his runs on the off-side. He had a complete control on the shots he played on the off-side such as square drive, square cut and cover drive. However, one of the drawbacks in his playing style, was that he was not comfortable to short ball as he could not hook or pull easily.

Ganguly established himself as an opener for a long period of time. He was known for making the best use of the fielding restrictions in the early overs. It was brilliant hand-eye co-ordination which helped him to notice the ball with ease. He could take charge against the spinners and would often step up to hit them.

The southpaw retired with a brilliant average in Tests and ODIs. He scored 7212 runs in the longest format at an average of 42.17 and also notched up 11363 runs in the ODIs at an average of 41.02. Ganguly scored over 100 half-centuries in his successful international career.