From Quintuplets to Tripod!!

Following up from my previous blog “My Bleeding 90s cricket”, I have to say, here is more. I briefly spoke about the man they called “Dada”, which means elder brother. ………
Saurav Chandidas Ganguly- debut Lords 1996 retired Nagpur 2008. Stirring start to anti-climatic end and along the way many an up and down. His career and tenure veered so unpredictably, that even the most meandering river would appear to be flowing on properly chartered course.

A man who wore his heart on the sleeve and displayed absolute raw emotions on the field, fired up the cricket team, which up till then, for all the years played, would best be described as a serene or sedate one. His mantra- to hell with politeness, stare the opponent in the face and dare him to blink. If Aussies were bullies, he was not ready to play the part of child kicked around. That, he irritated Steve‘Mr.Iceman’Waugh to no end, and gave a large dose of their sledging without giving an inch speaks volumes. A key aspect, that made Indian team realize that they can answer back their opponents and are capable of playing mind games as well. Along with Laxman’s jewel of an inning, rock stable support of Dravid, mesmerizing spin woven by Harbajan and exquisite essay by Tendulkar, I think this toughness imparted by Ganguly (though not as lucid as other contributions) helped India negate the Aussie winning juggernaut and crash them in Final Frontier. Thus for Steve Waugh, the Final Frontier remained unconquered. Ganguly the captain for some reason would always be remembered over Ganguly the player from that point on, which in some ways was sad because it stole the limelight from his achievements, even when he performed with the bat. It was not just the Aussies that he bothered, remember the emphatic shirt waving at Lord’s which left many a people aghast? Well that’s just paying that back with the same coin.

But that was his captaincy, rewinding the clock all the way back to his debut and there were the dual centuries back-to-back in England (Lords and Trent Bridge-both matches drawn), that heralded his arrival after a rather forgettable debut in ODIs 4yrs earlier, that left him in wilderness all that time. The man after God on the off-side had well and truly arrived. The same year he started opening the ODI batting with a maestro named Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar, and not a soul who has heard of Indian cricket will not know what that combination has achieved. While one had the opponents lauding his performance, other made sure the opposition were tearing their hair from frustration. They both never offered a respite from either end, which is so crucial in the limited overs format. They did start of with a century partnership, in the very first time the came together at the top of the batting charts. The man was particularly brutal against the Lankans. His favorite opponents were the South Africans in ODI, but the Lankans followed close behind (his first ODI century was against the Lankans).

Invariably every cricketer had a favorite hunting ground. If it was Eden Gardens for Azhar, Kotla for Kumble, it had to be Toronto for Ganguly. While the rest of players found the place to produce banana swings that was impossible to handle, Ganguly was soo sublime that it made you wonder in awe whether he was batting on a different surface. Add in his seemingly innocuous medium pace bowling and you have a potent and heady concoction.
His match winning knocks were by a bucketful. If there are some critics (still??) against Tendulkar about his lack of match winning knocks, on a big stage, that is one thing, no one can accuse Ganguly of. Remember the belligerent setup in the mammoth run-chase in Dhaka? Or maybe carrying the bat through against South Africa in ICC Knockout championship? Or better yet the murderous mauling of the Lankans at Taunton (whipping the Lankans again in Singer-Akai Nidahas finals with record opening partnership doesn’t fall behind either). Whatever it was, it was so complete and so dominant that the wind was completely out of the opponent by the time he was done with them.

When people say that Ganguly doesn’t let criticism bother him, I say Hogwash. It does bother him, but the thing is it bothers him in such a manner that it has a positive effect on him. Somehow he has always performed his best when he or his team has been written off or criticized. A simple example being the way he was unceremoniously ‘escorted’ out of the team. It bothered him to the effect that resulted in a leaner, meaner, fitter Ganguly, who made one of the most stirring comebacks into the Test side. He is still way too good to be left out of the one-day squad. But with the team building itself towards to World Cup 2011, the mantra was that youngsters had to get comfortable in the side and form a core. To sum up, an intensely determined man, who takes criticism positively and prefers to answer back with his game. To no surprise, he has invariably come up trumping the critics.

Ganguly the leader has been painted as the villain in many a situation, but if it were not for his method of leading, Indian team might have still been a pushover rather than the brash, we take no-nonsense attitude that is visible today. To those of us mostly in this generation who grew up watching the fag end of prev generation of cricketers and this Fab Five core, it was a welcome change in attitude and not being subjected to nonsense from the opponents. As much as I am a fan of watching Dravid absolutely deaden a super fast bal with straightest of bats, Sachin’s class and Laxman’s sublime wrists, I have enjoyed watching Ganguly drive through the off, sashay down the pitch to deposit the ball way outside the ground and most importantly lead this Indian team to its ferocity and making a force world over. Ganguly the player is great, Ganguly the captain is excellent.

Dada, thank you for your contributions. There are so many things we enjoyed and cherish in our memories. Thanks for making our team a tough nut to crack and thanks for giving it back to the Aussies. You are admirable Admiral, who led from the front.
We will miss you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My bleeding 90s cricket!!

After a long time, I get a chance to key in some words in the open paper of the internet called blog. I always say I am in perpetual writer’s block, but then today is anything but that. Then again it is not often that a ‘Giant’ decides to walk away from a grand stage that it has been a part of, for better period of nearly 2 decades. It is not everyday that Anil Kumble calls it quits……………….

The period of our life that most of my generation have been dreading for, has come indeed. First Ganguly now Kumble. While one takes the fight to the opposition in absolute brazenness, the other stoically fights but rarely makes a noise. Each one has employed their style to great effect and each have left their mark on the game and India in particular. While adjectives describing both would fall woefully inadequate, they are as different from Chalk and cheese. But more about ‘Dada’ later, this one is about the man, who for being as tall as he is, is almost unnoticeable for his quiet demeanor and humility bordering on apologetic. There is something very gentlemanly about Kumble, which is probably why he is highly respected by his peers and opposition alike.

The articles, news reels, quotes from cricketing great are plush with glorious adjectives. But when you read then you can truly feel, not a single one is over the top. With Kumble, these words are anything but that!!
Truth be told, there has never been a more under rated (and in some cases by the media, under appreciated) cricketer to walk this planet. The do not call “The Smiling Assassin” for no reason. You might not realize the impact of Kumble until you glance up the scoreboard and notice that he probably snagged 3 or 4 wickets of total 5 to fall (the lone exception to this would probably be the historic Kotla test of 1999). Pretty much the story of his entire career though. While all the attention has been on Muralitharan and Warne in the grand total wickets race, ‘Jumbo’ silently flew under the radar and grabbed 619. If people has not realized, that’s the third highest number of wickets. Much of 90s cricket was synonymous with the way India were such a dominant force at home. He was not a typical spinner and was often ridiculed by the members of press associated. But such is the cricket acumen of this engineer that his bowling consisted of constant adjustments and correction, all the while, wearing down the opponent, without giving an inch. Much of the reason, Harbhajan Singh flourished after the 2001 Aussie test series was because of Kumble. With no respite at either end when these two operated in tandem meant that the chokehold was forced to be broken, often an attempt that brought about the downfall.

As our parents (the previous generation) were reminiscing the glorious days of ‘the Spin Quartet” with a misty eye and yonder a gaze and fond memories, Kumble was toiling in front of our eyes, to ultimately provide us with the same memories, that we would eventually be able recall when we sit down and lean back and gaze past the sunset.

As much as these cricketing master’s days come to close, it brings to close the cricketing days of our generation too. Most of has have been brought up with the image of the ‘Fab Five’ (it’s a blasphemy, that they always choose to leave out Kumble when mentioning the pillars of our Indian cricket, that has fought for glory for a population of billion, that has little to cheer about in terms of sporting achievements), walking together of onto the battleground. Now two of them have decided to hoist up the sails and drift into ocean, leaving behind nothing but some of the best memories of the Indian cricket through the 90s and this side of millennium, when we close our eyes and let the reel run through our mind.

A very minor, and much humble effort to pay the tribute to the best possible, for the man, we have always taken for granted, for the man, who always had Team India first in his mind, for a man we have to trod along forward, as he hangs his boots and bide us goodbye and tells his best wishes are always with us (and you can most certainly believe he truly does wish the best). It is hard not to get misty-eyed when we think, that you would not be bounding in from your run-up to deliver the ball in your unique way. For those of us who were lucky to witness this, we would never forget it.

Jumbo……. We will miss you, and we wish you the very best!!!!