Ganguly

As Ganguly's career winds down, it feels good to see him go with a bang rather than a whimper. For all the complaints I have of him, I was also one of his biggest fans during his peak days and it pained me to write ill of him time and again.

Fair weather friend, some might say, but as a blogger, I tried to stay true to my promise of looking at the bigger picture as I saw it, and not look at the Gangulys and Tendulkars. No fair weather friends (or enemies), no friends, just say it as I see it.

I hailed him when he became the captain and I defended him when he was down. Like a billion others, I was the un-official selector of the Indian cricket team, and for a large part of that tenure as selector, Ganguly scored high on my list. This changed in the last quarter of his career but that was not about Ganguly, the person but Ganguly, the cricketer. Simply put, I thought he should get out because he was no longer good enough either as a player or as a Captain.

Greg Chappell happened, and he did go out! Ironically, but not surprisingly considering Indian cricket's eccentricities, some time later Chappell went out and Ganguly came back in, and to my mind, if the Ganguly who came back after the Chappell saga had been available before the Chappell saga, I doubt if the Chappell saga would have happened.

Since his comeback, Ganguly has played well, no questions about that but as is perhaps natural to expect, he was a far cry from the Ganguly of yore. Sadly for him, he also came back at a time when Indian cricket was looking to turn a corner and the selectors, that ever-accursed gang of five, were implementing a vision in their own bumbling and blundering manner but implementing it none the less. More and gang started it, Vengsarkar and party took it forward, and Srikkant and chums seem to be looking in the same direction. I don't believe in fairy tales and I am sure Ganguly's selection for the Australian series does indeed have a story behind it. I don't know what it is and I don't care either; the fact that Ganguly finally goes indicates that the selection process is indeed moving in the right direction.

A world cup win in Twenty 20, a dynamic captain in MS Dhoni, a young team showing the way forward for Indian cricket; unfortunately, Ganguly doesn't fit into that picture, regardless of the chestnuts about age and experience. Nor do some others fit the picture but their day will come too, and the decision of whether they go out on a high, a la Ganguly, is now in their own hands.

Ganguly brought many good things to Indian cricket! People call him a great captain but while I never saw him as a great or even modest on-field captain, I do see him as an outstanding spotter of talent. He brought an edge to the team by his own style of "I don't give a damn who you are" attitude, and the personnel he chose had the same kind of edge. I also differ from those who say he brought aggression to the team; I prefer saying that he brought in the personnel who lent aggression to the team. Personnel who probably became more loyal to him than they did to Indian cricket!

Ganguly changed many things about Indian cricket, and he will be remembered for that. He was an outstanding ODI batsman in his prime, probably the best in the world at that time, and he will be remembered for that. He built a team, and not many captains can claim that, that went on to be highly successful in ODI cricket and did better than their predecessors ever did in test cricket, and he will be remembered for that too.

There were some negative points he might be remembered for; but regular readers of my blog would not need a reminder of my complaints against Sourav Ganguly, and I really prefer this post to celebrate Ganguly because I truly believe he did some good things for Indian cricket.

There were many ways in which Ganguly could have made his exit; he could have gone after being dumped by the selectors without getting his second chances; he could have gotten his second chances and gone after a series of failures; or he could have gotten his second chances and gone out in style as he seems to be doing now; a style as regal as the way he batted in his prime.

A proud man that Ganguly obviously is, I am happy that he leaves with his head high. He has earned his boasting rights over the years, and whatever the true reason be for his decision to retire, I believe for Indian cricket this was the best possible decision. If he boasts tomorrow that he was good enough to score a hundred against the world champions in his farewell series, it would be a boast no Indian cricket fan would begrudge him.

The way Ganguly's exit is panning out, the man who loved to hate Ganguly, a certain Mr. Steve Waugh, must be saying to himself "deja vu"!

gangully