Mohammad Kaif believes Sourav Ganguly is the finest captain he played under

Former Indian U-19 captain Mohammad Kaif has named Sourav Ganguly as the finest captain he has ever played for, underlining the former Indian captain's ability to instil confidence in his young players. Kaif, regarded as one of the finest fielders in cricket history, shared the field alongside some iconic cricketers during his playing career. Kaif rose to prominence after leading India to win the U-19 World Cup in 2000.

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The 42-year-old is most known for his contribution to India's victory against England in the 2022 NatWest Series final, as he helped Sourav Ganguly's team chase down 326 with an unbroken 87-run knock off 75 balls. He was also named Man of the Match for his performances in that game.

Captaincy means you need to be a leader: Mohammad Kaif

During an interview on DD India's 'Virtual Encounters," Kaif was asked to choose the finest captain he'd ever played for. He named Ganguly without hesitation, stating, "I would say Sourav Ganguly. I remember he told me that I should go out there and give my best shot and that he is there to back me, he is there to support me. That's a big comment. As a young guy, if you have a captain like Sourav Ganguly, you get emboldened while playing for India."

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He further stated that Ganguly had all the qualities of becoming a leader. He said, "Sourav Ganguly was amazing, he was fantastic. Captaincy means you need to be a leader - lead from the front, pick the right players and back them. Ganguly built the team."

He believed that the former Indian captain took over the captaincy in the most difficult times of Indian Cricket and brought in many new young talents. The former Indian batter said, "After what had happened earlier, when he got the opportunity to captain after the 2001 match-fixing scandal, he took the Indian team forward. He brought the likes of Sehwag, Zaheer Khan, Yuvraj Singh, Mohammad Kaif and Harbhajan Singh. So I think he was the one, took the team forward, there is no doubt about that."

Kaif played in 83 One-Day Internationals. The right-handed batter scored 1935 runs at an average of 35.18. It was slightly higher than his total career average of 32.01.