Jul 28, 2005 05:18 PM
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(Updated Jul 28, 2005 05:27 PM)
Saurav Ganguly s cricketing life has been nothing short of a roller coaster ride. When Saurav made it to the Indian team way back in 1992 , a lot of journalists joked about his selection as a reservation quota for West Bengal state. Saurav s entry into international cricket , in a one day match against West Indies at Brisbane ,was nothing short of a disaster. In the only one day match he played in that tour, Saurav made a paltry three runs. He was not asked to bowl. He was promptly discarded , never to be heard about or seen for the next four years.
Picking ‘talented youngsters’ and dropping them like hot potatoes after one failure is a mistake the BCCI has been consistent in making ever since it was formed. While this attitude has spelt the obituary for many cricketers, Saurav Ganguly is not the run of the mill cricketer. He was and will always be a very special cricketer. With some consistent performances in the domestic circuit and with the India A team, Saurav got a second chance in 1996 when he was selected for the tour of England under Md.Azharuddin.
At Lords, nine summers ago, Ganguly scripted a comeback that will remain a fairytale for generations to come. Walking in at number three with the scoreboard reading 25/1, Ganguly , with his precise timing and silken touch , mesmerized the English bowlers in their own backyard to complete a century on his test debut. He returned to torment the English batsmen with his nagging medium pace to pick up three wickets in the match. He followed that with another hundred at Trent bridge. All his critics were silenced.
Ganguly never looked back after that – well, till he was made the captain. He would reduce the opponent captain to a mere spectator with his majestic drives through the off side. There were occasions when seven men would guard the off side and Ganguly could still find the boundary.
When Tendulkar stepped down from captaincy in 2001, the selectors had two choices – Rahul Dravid and Saurav . Dravid s poor record in the just concluded tour of Australia and his uncertainity in the one day team went against him and Ganguly was placed on the hot seat. Ganguly s aggression and his faith on younger members of the team transformed India from a team of individual stars to a team that can deliver results. Ganguly went on to win tests in West Indies, Zimbabwe and hold your breath – in Australia !!.
A big blot in Ganguly s record as a captain is his own loss of form. Ganguly s weakness against the short ball was exploited repeatedly by Australians and subsequently all pace bowlers. His own form reached the nadir and critiques were quick to call him the non-playing captain.
Despite all the criticism heaped on him, Ganguly s contribution to the revival of Indian cricket cannot be underrated. He took over when the team was crippled with match fixing scandals and was in an unenviable position of handling Sachin Tendulkar, a legend in his own way and seven years his senior in Indian cricket. Like a true leader, he mentored Yuvraj, Kaif and Harbhajan – all of them match winners.
Ganguly has been stripped of his captaincy and his career is at cross roads, but Ganguly has the strength and resilence to bounce back. He has his share of flaws - his treatment of Anil Kumble has been shabby and he has a prejudice against left arm spinners, but then noone is perfect. What is more important is that he has won more matches for India than any other captain and that will require some hard work to emulate. His aggression and his heart in his mouth approach brought the much needed toughness into the Indian team and noone can take that away from him.
