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!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!