Ganguly is a left-handed batsman and a right-arm medium-pace bowler. He is the seventh Indian cricketer to have played 100 Test matches. He is currently the 5th highest overall run scorer for India in Tests. He is the fourth Indian to have played in more than 300 One Day Internationals. In terms of overall runs scored in ODIs, Ganguly is the second among Indians after Sachin Tendulkar (who has the highest ODI runs in the world) and the fourth in the world. Ganguly has scored 15 centuries in Test matches and 22 in ODIs. He is one of only seven batsmen to score more than 10,000 runs in ODIs.

Ganguly was the captain of the Indian cricket team from 2000 to 2005. He led India in a record 49 Test matches and is the most successful Test captain of his country (India won in 21 of the 49 test matches that Ganguly led). He also led India to the 2003 World Cup final.