Ganguly to get reception for double ton

Kolkata:

The "City of Joy" went into raptures on Sunday, celebrating its hero Saurav Ganguly's maiden double ton in the third Test against Pakistan in Bangalore, as the state government and the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) announced to felicitate the cricketer for the "remarkable feat".

State Minister for Urban Development Ashok Mukherjee said: "Sourav (Ganguly) has made West Bengal proud. We are planning to give him a reception once he returned, not only for scoring a double hundred but also for playing 100th Test match, which he will play in Australia."

CAB President Prasun Mukherjee told IANS: "We are extremely proud of Ganguly's remarkable achievement. His first century at Eden after 10 years of international cricket and then his first double hundred has been special for Sourav. It is special for us too."

"I not only congratulate him on behalf of CAB, but also hope he continues scoring for many more years. We are planning to felicitate him for this rare double (century)," he said.

Ganguly reached the milestone against Pakistan at Bangalore, in the final Test match, with two runs to the cover region off Yasser Arafat.

His 200 came of 324 balls with 26 boundaries and one six in his 99th Test.

As the news of the Ganguly's double ton filtered out, hundreds of people gathered outside his Behala residence in south Kolkata with placards and giant cut-outs of the left-hander, exchanged sweets and smeared each other with gulal.

"Dada has done us proud. It is a remarkable achievement for anyone of his age to hit back-to-back centuries in Test. Sourav has done even better by scoring a double century," Rabin Mondal, a diehard fan, said.

Ganguly 's fans took out a rally raising slogans in his favour.