Him standing at the Lords balcony, waiving his shirt before millions of TV viewers all across the world or him standing at short mid wicket chewing his nails, or him arguing with the umpire for not upholding his LBW appeal?
In all three actions, which really became a part and parcel of the Ganguly show, there is a common factor. His aggression. His I -don't-give-a-damn attitude. And most importantly, I-love-my-country feeling. Whatever happens to Ganguly from now, we can't thank him enough for being the main force responsible for turing around team India.
Look at the timing when he was appointed skipper. Indian cricket had sunk to its nadir. There was a new devil called match fixing. Sachin Tendulkar had made it clear that he was not ready for the top job in the country's sports. A team which boasted of several big names suddenly looked like a bunch of inexperienced players.
So what did Sourav do? He gave the team a sense of new found belief. Remember Kenya, the champions trophy three years back? Steve Waugh, oh that man of steel, getting ready to face his first ball. The bowler, a bloke called Zaheer Khan. All of us wondering where was he going to hit the ball. But what transpired on the field was totally contradictory.
Ganguly walked across (He has never been a quick mover on the field) from his fielding position to the beginning of Zaheer's run up. All the while giving the impression that he was in no hurry that Waugh faces his first delivery. Chatted a few words with Khan. You could see in between that Waugh by now was getting restless. Afterall why should he be made to wait to face his ball when he was all set, the field appeared to be all set, hell even the umpire was raring for action.
Finally Zaheer started with his run up. After a smooth run, almost as if he was gliding on air, he hurled a 90 mph yorker. Waugh had been clean bowled first ball. He just couldnt believe what had happened. He looked around, but all that he could see was Ganguly and Zaheer laughing and celebrating his dismissal. Almost as if they wanted to rub salt in his wounds. One can think of so many dismissals which happened only and only because Ganguly planned them.
So what happened to the man who was compared with Mike Brearly by many cricketing greats for being one of the best strategisers in the business? Brearly, too, never commanded his place in the England team on his cricketing merit. He was there only and only because he was a terrfic thinker.
What went wrong in Ganguly's case was that maybe somewhere along the line he got too complacent. Took his place in the team for granted. Those ugly spats with Greg Chappel only added to the foul perception against Ganguly. In the days ahead there will be many opportunities for all of us to look at obituaries of Ganguly.
There will be columns and columns of news print both in his favour and against him. But everytime you read something against him, remember the famous line which was delivered by his successor, Rahul Dravid "ON THE OFF SIDE THERE IS GOD AND THEN THERE IS SOURAV GANGULY."
Here's a salute to that cricketing god.
(Bhupendra Chaubey is Chief Political Correspondent with CNN-IBN)About the AuthorBhupendra Chaubey Bhupendra Chaubey has been a TV journalist for the past 12 years starting his career with NDTV. As a political journalist travelling across the length...Read Morefirst published:February 24, 2006, 13:47 ISTlast updated:February 24, 2006, 13:47 IST
window._taboola = window._taboola || [];_taboola.push({mode: 'thumbnails-mid-article',container: 'taboola-mid-article-thumbnails',placement: 'Mid Article Thumbnails',target_type: 'mix'});
let eventFire = false;
window.addEventListener('scroll', () => {
if (window.taboolaInt && !eventFire) {
setTimeout(() => {
ga('send', 'event', 'Mid Article Thumbnails', 'PV');
ga('set', 'dimension22', "Taboola Yes");
}, 4000);
eventFire = true;
}
});
window._taboola = window._taboola || [];_taboola.push({mode: 'thumbnails-a', container: 'taboola-below-article-thumbnails', placement: 'Below Article Thumbnails', target_type: 'mix' });Latest News
What's the most enduring image of Sourav Gangluy?
Him standing at the Lords balcony, waiving his shirt before millions of TV viewers all across the world or him standing at short mid wicket chewing his nails, or him arguing with the umpire for not upholding his LBW appeal?
In all three actions, which really became a part and parcel of the Ganguly show, there is a common factor. His aggression. His I -don't-give-a-damn attitude. And most importantly, I-love-my-country feeling. Whatever happens to Ganguly from now, we can't thank him enough for being the main force responsible for turing around team India.
Look at the timing when he was appointed skipper. Indian cricket had sunk to its nadir. There was a new devil called match fixing. Sachin Tendulkar had made it clear that he was not ready for the top job in the country's sports. A team which boasted of several big names suddenly looked like a bunch of inexperienced players.
So what did Sourav do? He gave the team a sense of new found belief. Remember Kenya, the champions trophy three years back? Steve Waugh, oh that man of steel, getting ready to face his first ball. The bowler, a bloke called Zaheer Khan. All of us wondering where was he going to hit the ball. But what transpired on the field was totally contradictory.
Ganguly walked across (He has never been a quick mover on the field) from his fielding position to the beginning of Zaheer's run up. All the while giving the impression that he was in no hurry that Waugh faces his first delivery. Chatted a few words with Khan. You could see in between that Waugh by now was getting restless. Afterall why should he be made to wait to face his ball when he was all set, the field appeared to be all set, hell even the umpire was raring for action.
Finally Zaheer started with his run up. After a smooth run, almost as if he was gliding on air, he hurled a 90 mph yorker. Waugh had been clean bowled first ball. He just couldnt believe what had happened. He looked around, but all that he could see was Ganguly and Zaheer laughing and celebrating his dismissal. Almost as if they wanted to rub salt in his wounds. One can think of so many dismissals which happened only and only because Ganguly planned them.
So what happened to the man who was compared with Mike Brearly by many cricketing greats for being one of the best strategisers in the business? Brearly, too, never commanded his place in the England team on his cricketing merit. He was there only and only because he was a terrfic thinker.
What went wrong in Ganguly's case was that maybe somewhere along the line he got too complacent. Took his place in the team for granted. Those ugly spats with Greg Chappel only added to the foul perception against Ganguly. In the days ahead there will be many opportunities for all of us to look at obituaries of Ganguly.
There will be columns and columns of news print both in his favour and against him. But everytime you read something against him, remember the famous line which was delivered by his successor, Rahul Dravid "ON THE OFF SIDE THERE IS GOD AND THEN THERE IS SOURAV GANGULY."
Here's a salute to that cricketing god.
(Bhupendra Chaubey is Chief Political Correspondent with CNN-IBN)
Comments
0 comment