There are two memories that, for me, stood out from the jubilant scenes after India won the last Test match against Australia at Nagpur.

One was of all the Indian players sitting on top of the car that Ishant Sharma had been awarded for his winning the Man of the Series award and being driven around the grounds like young exuberant schoolboys.

The second was that of Sourav Ganguly being chaired off the field by his team-mates – in every sense like a Maharajah being carried by his loyal bearers.

When Ganguly - The Prince of Kolkata as dubbed by Geoff Boycott but Dada to his team-mates and millions of fans - bid farewell to international cricket at the conclusion of the Test match series between India and Australia this month, he was able to walk off the stage with his head held high, leaving behind some wonderful memories for his fans, a rich legacy for Indian cricket and an Indian team that had regained its pride and its position in the international cricket arena.

The 36 year old left-hander began his Test career in 1996 in sensational style, scoring a century on debut at Lords - the first (and only) Indian to have done so. His departure too was done in similar sensational fashion, scoring a century (102 at Mohali) in his penultimate match, a half century (85) in the first innings of his final game at Nagpur, and - almost as if he could not resist the temptation to emulate Don Bradman himself - a duck in his final innings.

His nickname Dada comes from the Hindi for ‘older brother ‘ - and he certainly played the role of mentoring older brother to young players in his team like Harbhajan Singh, Yuvraj Singh and Zaheer Khan. But in colloquial Hindi, the term Dada has other connotations - implying more a leader, a ringleader if you like, even a Don. And it was not only in the manner of his departure that Dada could be compared to Don Bradman himself.

When Ganguly was appointed captain of the Indian team in 2000, it was a testing time for the new leader and his young team. But he took control - and like our own Arjuna Ranatunga, another sub-continental leader who did not care two cents for the intimidating reputation of opposing captains - Ganguly had no problem taking the fight to the enemy. His attitude seemed to be not merely leading his players to destroy their opponents’ bowling and batting, but also using tactics to destroy his opponents’ mental stability and ability to cope.

Shortly after he took over the captaincy, Australia arrived to play a Test series in India at the top of their game - world champions with 15 straight Test wins behind them, with India being the final hurdle in the path to a world record of this Australian juggernaut.

Well educated, confident (to the point of even being described in some quarters as arrogant!) and articulate (his years in the classrooms at Kolkota’s prestigious St Xavier’s were obviously not wasted), Ganguly in impeccable English made calculated snipes at his opponents at press conferences, kept his opposing captain fuming by turning up late for the toss and even showed the Australians he could sledge as well as they could in their own language. In the battle of mind games (as Australian captain Steve Waugh was to concede later) he got the better of the Australians. His team came up trumps, defeating Australia 2-1 in that series and denying them the record-breaking 17 straight wins they were seeking.

During his 16 year Test career he scored 16 centuries and over 7000 runs, acquiring a reputation as not only as an inspirational captain but also an elegant batsman. He is one of only 3 players in the world (the others being Sanath Jayasuriya and Sachin Tendulkar) to achieve the amazing treble of 10,000 runs, 100 wickets and 100 catches in ODI cricket.

By the time he retired, Ganguly had established himself as India’s most successful cricket captain, with 21 wins achieved under his leadership that spanned 49 Test matches. Even the timing of his retirement, going out at the top of his game, could not have been timed better.