A Captain who solved the mystery of "Why" and "How"- Sourav Ganguly

         Speaking about Tendulkar's style is an easy job. You can keep on talking and still you won't bore people. Arguing for Dravid's defense is a tough task. You may never find it easy to win debates. Talk about Laxman and elegance. You can always write a tragic script for a movie in Australia. But, when speaking about "Ganguly", you should be careful. Because, its not just Dada, but his fans are still hot to handle.

        This could well be the most carefully prepared piece in my collection(still amateurish) till now and there is some inspiration behind this. 17 years ago, two young lads from India stood on the "Mecca of Cricket" making their debuts against an English side who had already went up in the series by 1-0. Many people still believe that these guys should have given chance in the first test and it would have resulted in the series ending  in a draw or could have become a day dream come true(winning a series in England), which has turned out to be a nightmare for the captain cool and his co 2 years ago .No time machines invented till now to go back and change things. So, have to day dream for at least one more year.

 Coming back to the series, it was not an occasional debut , a couple of gems were discovered that day, who went on to play the perfect second fiddle where the GOD of cricket occupying the first, and sometimes taking over whenever the pedal was under their feet. It take some character to overcome the hurdles and take the driving seat of a flight in which the engine name is "Sachin Tendulkar". When a person  named as "Sourav Chandidas Ganguly" took over the pilot seat which was tampered by a rod called "Fixing" many questioned....... WHY???????

 It looks easy to judge a team by the way they performs. Watching the last champions trophy is giving us a feel like the "Art of Dominance" is no longer an Australian product in the cricket market these days. But wait... Why would some one like Brian Lara make a comment on his favorite captain on the very same day which gave wonderful memories 17 years ago. A sensation-centered questionnaire from media may have brought it out. But Lara had no doubts in pointing it to Dada ahead of someone like Dhoni. Its easy to understand the fact that no 5-year kid would thank the one who planted and looked after a mango tree before it actually started giving the best fruits. But Ganguly earns it from everywhere where people know what really team work means and how difficult is the process of "Moulding the team".  Even if he is termed as the arrogant boy of 90's who had rejected the rumor of not carrying drinks to his team-mates, he proved wrong at the age of 35. No wonder he brings a lot of charisma to the team with his presence.



 A leader is one who believes in his team and himself. A leader is one who leads from the front. A leader is one who display risks as strategy.... etc... etc.. There will be a lot of captains to get a first class percentage with this list.  But Ganguly achieved outstanding marks to solve the "Why" in a period where aggression is a patent for Australians, in which pace bowling as an art of conquering the opponent with a mystery named Shane Warne who was having a hand which could make even a china bowl hit the off-stump pitching outside leg. Indeed Ganguly had the likes of a God,a Wall and a Kangaroo Hunter.(Arguing for Bhajji would bring in debate but i always felt if there was someone who brought the best out of him, its Dada) But its takes lot more than some quality to reach the ultimate territory. If kolkata was the path to that place then Ganguly guided the so called quality which was moving 360 without knowing the path.

A flat track world-title is not darker in any aspect, but becoming runners-up in testing conditions always gives a sense of achievement even though the aggression was surrendered before the dominant Australia in 2003. The decision to bowl was criticized. But its take a lot of courage to be Ganguly. He went for it, keeping faith in his pace trio. A retired veteran bowler who makes a great come-back(ahem.. ahem..Not Afridi by the way, he does that very often), simply on captain's call was truly unbelievable. One would have considered Piyush Chawla would have been a better replacement for world cup to keep in bench. But it was not Dhoni who captained India. It was Ganguly. Yes, there was and there is politics in Indian cricket. But never lesser was the joy on an Indian fan's face whenever 11 players gathered together to forming a circle, when a wicket falls irrespective to which team they played against or which match situation it was.

No matter how the strength was on paper, India remained only paper tigers  for a longer period in  history of test cricket outside India. A win at Haedingley, an Adelaide or a Rawalpindi is not familiar for a "Captain Cool" or a "Vice president" of Indian Cements. There comes the "HOW" ..... Which only Ganguly can figure out ..... So keeping it down by the fact that a lot of finals have been thrown off or outclassed in many ways Ganguly has always been a passionate leader. If some one like Yuvraj says that "He will do anything for  captain like Gangly" after a four year period of retirement of the captain guess what the influence Dada had on his growth(success) ????? How could one promote a middle order batsman to opening and goes on to become the most destructive player after Viv Richards?????? How could show belief in a part timer in the last over of  match with lead bowlers watching?????? How could one keep faith in a slip-fielder to be keeping wickets for a world tournament?????? Lets just eat and drink whatever Ganguly does. Don't have any other answer for these.

Its is easy to find a good player these days, to crop them and bring them to the highest level of game in some period. But, young guns creating moments in the history of game on their own- that is something you could only find under a captain who is highly an absorbing personality. No one bites his finger-nails so hard while fielding. No other captain worries about the performance of his fellow player more than the player himself. No other batsman gets angry for no reason when his partner gets out. Of course, he is emotional, outspoken, controversial. But that doesn't shatter his never-give up attitude in any way. Running around the ground after taking a wicket at the age of 39 like a young kid and the guts to take off his shirt at Lords. That is him. Only he can do it.


 Despite being rated as the sixth best ODI batsman of all time and impeccable records Ganguly clearly stands out as the best captaincy material India ever had. He was the God of Off-Side. He was the arrogant price from Kolkata. Evaluating him in terms match winning knocks and huge pile of runs wouldn't be a proper way to recall the memories of a captain who had the greatest influence in Indian cricket. You can love him or hate him but you just can't ignore him. Just go to kolkata and ask "who is Sourav Ganguly?" carelessly. 9 out of 10 times you will get slapped. Fact or story... sounds good when it is about Dada.

A Game , An Innings, A Number & A Revolution- Chris Gayle

" Cricket has been part of Indian sports and culture ever since the World cup victory of 1983.
  
  Cricket became the breath of each Indian when Sachin Tendulkar entered International arena.

   Indian Cricket grew under the effective leadership of Sourav Ganguly.

   Kolkata,Laxman,Dravid,Harbhajan- took India to higher standards of cricket" and finally

   Dhoni and Co took us to the greatest heights of cricket"

                                             These are certain views or opinions which can be heard all over India. One aspect which relates all these views together is cricket. One difference is that, it is hard to find a large group of people who will agree with all of these as the combined reason for popularity in India. One fact is that these views change according the generations who were able to taste the reap of Indian cricket in respective periods. You can strongly say that there are few more lines to be added before the beginning to make it complete. Accept my sincere apologies if i miss any, i know it will be "many".

                                            Cricket has been living its life through different generations with different resources postured as legends in history. In India cricket is like a television, a luxury once, became a want, and a necessity now, in terms of its popularity. One can point out a lot of factors which made it so, but no complaints except that, no other sports or game in Indian enjoy such a high fan base. Statistics would represent a shrub near rosewood. All the above quotes mentioned made it better and better.

                                            One may easily state that the golden period of Indian cricket will be over once the "Cricket God" hangs his boots for ever. But stop for a minute, there is one missing point. What about the fan following- not towards players but towards the different formats of game.One who have witnessed the epics of test cricket of Indian team can easily say that test cricket is on verge of extinction in India. The culprit is none other than IPL and T20. India's international T20 assignments are not the crime factors but the domestic and collaborated T20 festivals are the ones in the script.

                                             Globalization- what has it to do with domestic cricket in India?. At first it was heard that foreign players would be part of Indian Ranji Trophy tournament. But later on IPL was born. It began at the right time when team India lifted the not so followed format in 2007. Rest is history. Standing in the sixth edition of the league, people are enjoying their holiday season by making their attendance in arena and before televisions. The attendance of 45,000 people for the irrelevant match between Delhi and Pune- where were they when Indian played against Australia and England at home? OK with working days, but what about the weekends? 

                                             Time is running short. Who would like to spend 8 hours on a hot day watching players in white colors all around? So they made their choices. Go for the entertainers and watch quick scoring, lot of boundaries, and lot of sixes. So here comes our revolutionary character- Christopher Henry Gayle. How he is here, What he was before is nothing for an Indian cricket fan these days, sorry- IPL fans. People love him, hate him, stop. It is not for his contribution to the legacy of cricket which would be written in history for people to be born, but for the so called "massive" items from his bat in IPL.

                                              A number of 175 is something- which will earn a great ovation from crowd in Tests, a symbol of greatness within a player in ODIs. But what if, it is within a period of 20 overs. "Massive entertainment" more likely a "highlights" of a game showing boundaries and sixes.. So how is it going to affect the game of cricket in India. I would like to bring an incident which happened to none other than Rahul Dravid.-a person known for his impeccable contribution to test cricket in India. "My sons want me to play like Gayle"- this is what he said recently after retirement. This is a warning from an innocent mind that easily falls in love with the colorful toy.

                                             One can't simply complain the approach of people towards a specific format which literally contributes nothing except in terms of money. No one can simply point out a game as the first match of his life. Only if, he starts following the game in the late periods of his childhood. So what is going to happen when a kid see Gayle hammering bowlers to bring down a bunch of records. The kid gets attracted to the person and the format at the instant. He/she (He in most cases in India) expects the same sort of entertainment from all the games he watch and all the players, in the sense of scoring. Bowlers may not get respect in his view. It may take some time for him to learn what the real competition between ball and bat is. Test will make him feel as a boring 5-day event. Second session will be the time for him to take a snap after lunch. He would expect more than one Gayle in tests. Free hits and power-play will become unavoidable.What else.
                                             This innings from Gayle may have laid a strong foundation in many of the young minds in India. They can't be neglected. "As a 10 year old I grew up watching Kapil Dev lifting the World Cup for India and it inspired me a lot in my life"- these words from Dravid reminds us the fact that a whole lot of ten year old-s will have watched Gayle storm and naturally they may have laid a memory or inspiration for the future. They may not necessarily understand what real cricket is and how a player is being evaluated in terms of greatness in the game. But many of them may aspire to become the future gayle-s without a second thought.

                                             "Many people may say test cricket is the ultimate challenge. But I prefer T20". These words from Gayle are already in effect. He did no harm to other formats in any manner, but he did in the way he approaches T20 format. He can't be made a villain to other formats. But a savior in some sense if he continues to approach other formats in the same way and reap the same amount of results. May cricket Gods bless him for that to happen.....

Vishu- Recollection of pages which were believed to be lost

It is the first time in my life that I m not going to wake up to see the sacred light with Vishu Kani. A sad demise of a family member this year and I am left with nothing else but thoughts. Ever since I was a kid I didn't know why I was not at all shattered by an early morning wake-up call from my mother at the end of second week of April each year. I have never felt the same sort of freshness in any of my academic exam mornings. Who would disagree with that?

I can’t remember the year or my age when I saw the first vishu kani. It would be a disastrous lie if I point out a number in terms of year. I am prompted to write this with a little more than zero inspiration but with a hand full of memories from my dear motherJ. Probably I have nothing else to do this year for vishu and all I could do is to sit before a zero brain box, watching the nonsense version of gentleman’s game. It was a purposeful decision that I made to ask my mom regarding my childhood and vishu.  She told me a few as well. After all recollecting something which is withering from  mind would sometimes do good with the thoughts. So the following are two incidents from my childhood which brought a smile on my face today.

My mom, she had a terrible Vishu once. She said it was when I crossed a boundary. As most kids do I had that irritating (not for kids J ) habit of asking too much questions starting from one end to a probable infinity. What made it worse was that my mom didn't know where she should stop. It all started with nothing. I just wanted to know why we are setting up vishu kani.  As we all know a genuine answer won’t satisfy kids my mom told me that “it is because we will get too much of fruits and vegetables during the month and we want to see it on this particular day”. I followed it up. “Who is giving all these items” . She said, your grandpa, dad and father in laws will get them from their friends. It was just OK.. but “Why are we  having raw rice and the holy text. “This is the starting of the year and we should keep it as well”, she said. “What…..- so who is January”. That’s what my anganwaady(pre-primary) teacher taught us. The answer was a true one. “It is English calendar, and we celebrate vishu during the beginning of Malayalam calendar”. Hmm.. “So where can I see a Malayalam calendar”. It was a trap J. My uncle came to me and said he would show one and took me away from my mom. She doesn't remember when exactly I stopped asking the questions to him.

The second one was rather bizarre. I almost tortured my parents to death before many of my relatives. Who knows the exact list? I can still see a pathetic look on my mom’s face while saying this. It was when I was 7. I was a brother already and was trying to possess a stupid maturity. She didn't tell me how worse it was.  Vishukkaineetam, was special on those days, still special J. There was even a competition among friends that who had achieved the highest total after the school reopens.  The competition was limited to boys , because I still remember a girl would say, “ My papa(dad) gave me 500 rupees,  with a lot of air taken in while saying  500.” So no girls allowed, It was boys’ zone. Those numbers are like 36 required of last over with Dale Steyn as the bowler (now don’t say that u need to become De Villiers or yuvaraj). I could remember that I was the topper with an amount of Rs. 438(according to my mom). I was on seventh heaven I achieved the title.  Once my mom went to get some medicines for my sister and to a bad luck she forgot her purse at home itself. I would carry my wealth wherever I go during those daysJ. And you know what could have happened.  I generously gave my money to my mom making her promise that she would return it from father upon reaching home. And guess what, I was not able to ask because my dad was not on a good mood that day. And when I asked him the next day, he said “your mom didn’t give it to me”, and said to ask her. I knew she don’t have any and the amount she had was used for some other purpose. I was sad, really sad. I don’t have anyone to complain. Whenever I did they laughed at me. And that day came when we went for a marriage when most of my relatives came. I was still like the Srilankan team member after each world cup finals. One of my uncles took me and asked what happened. I said I didn't get my 438 back. The story followed by that. He was little funny that he told me to go around tell all our relatives like a mass petition signed. That was the apt judgement for me. I went on, on and on, till my dad came to me gave me 500 rupees. I was happy and asked him “why 500”. Dad told me “This is interest for what we got from your aunts and others”. By the way I became a bank on that day.

 You know Vishu has been special to people in many ways. Each year may present us some surprises, some gifts, some new relations, some loses, and the “some” continues to become “many” after a while. I don’t know you people celebrated vishu in the past, but apart from some crackers being spread, how many of you have felt the feel of having all together looking forward for an year of expectations and joy . I won’t boast that I am a divine human who feels this all the time,but I felt that I missed it sometimes. This can be a confession, sorry, is one. A thought of five minutes made me ask my mom what I was to them, even if the incidents don’t feel to be an entertaining read, I decided to write it down.

I wish all of you a happy Vishu and let us this year of brings you a lot of joy and surprises. Spend some time with your parents and siblings. I would be mighty pleased if you ask your mom or dad what you were during your earliest of vishus . It is your decision how to make it this year and I leave it to you. Enjoy and stay safe.

A Farewell- Some 'Shoulds' and a million "Should Not''s- Sachin Tendulkar

This might be one of  my thoughts which is not at all timed in many aspects. But letting my personal interests to be in my table, there are some thoughts which i would like to pass to all cricket lovers. Accept it or just dump it like a girl do with a boy's proposal. :)


Sachin Tendulkar- One word that defines it all. I am not here to make an analysis on what his qualities are, but just to look upon certain things which could probably occur in some period of time. Border-Gavaskar trophy is going on and having India already claimed the series, what actually i look forward as an Indian fan is nothing less than a whitewash. But the second day of fourth test is just making a subject to think about- Sachin.Why now? Team has already won the series. Whats wrong with him. Let him play his natural game. There are certain points of debate i would probably bring in.

After the World Cup victory everyone was on heaven's height. Of course it was a proud moment for Indian cricket and Indian regaining the title. But there was no discussion on Sachin's retirement at that point of time even though many Indian players including Dhoni himself suggested before the world cup that the Title was meant for Sachin, which went in the right way. But Indians were brought back to real world by England and Australia when Indians toured there. By the end of each tours the call for retirement of seniors came up. Former players and analysts felt it was time up for seniors to hang their boots. Dravid hung his boots and it was expected since his  thoughts were that, he considered one series at a time. Laxman went rather unexpectedly which was an unlucky decision for fans and cricket lovers. Not to forget there is still no proper replacement at number 6 after Ganguly left, which was a dark day of Indian cricket by the way he called off from duty.

Now its sachin who is the only one left in the fab-four. His knocks haven’t been impressive since the world cup. It’s not like he is someone who lost his touch completely or being put into misery like Dravid or Laxman in Australia. The passion and his Midas touch is visible in each game. Only thing is that he was not able to carry it to a big one. Coming back again, how long can Sachin continue like this. It’s definitely up to him to decide when to make a call for himself. But it should not be on a losing note. It should not be upon a selector to tell him that he should move on. That is one thing every cricket lover would expect. Let me just share some thoughts which made me to think about his retirement plans now.

The first test of Border-Gavaskar trophy was a great sign of relief for the fans in which Sachin showed his class and many of us thought he would rule the so-called weakest bowling attack of Australia. But apart from that 81 there hasn't been big scores from him.  So how is he going to proceed from here. There is an African series coming up and to make matters worse the bowling unit of south Africans is one hack of a problem everywhere. Taking from the positive side of ongoing series a fan can hope India would do the unexpected there and Dhoni and his team would lift the trophy(Keeping fingers crossed). What if it happens in the expected way. The question of Sachin's retirement would come up again.

So this is where I point out some recent happenings in cricket. It all started with Dravid announcing his retirement from ODI in England. He made his final knock a memorable one with almost a full packed crowd putting a standing ovation when he got out and Trott taking off his cap before he shook hands with the wall.

A player who was known for his records in tests was indeed more qualified to receive a better once for his last test. But unluckily that didn't happen and on one fine morning he announced his retirement before some media representatives.

Forgive me for not mentioning Laxman because it hurts many fans like me when talking about his retirement. So what i came through next was Ponting who was said as the next biggest player in Australia after Don called off his career. He too was unlucky being dropped from ODIs before he made a call for himself. But his retirement from tests was rather colorful in the way it happened(not the result). He was applauded by a passionate crowd. Even Nathan Lyon can't forget the applause he received that was meant for Ponting. Smith and his Co greeted him with honorary guard and it was a pleasant sight for a cricket lover.

    Not after a big time gap Mr.Cricket too hung his boots. It was a double blow for Australian cricket in every aspect since they were not expecting it, at least we people here were not. But for God's sake his retirement was on a winning note and  he held his head high as a champion who fulfilled his destiny.

It was really an awesome sight scoring the winning runs in his last test match and leave like retirement was never his plan. But rather unexpectedly he was not picked for the one-day series.

So coming back to Sachin. It was one black day for Indian cricket when Sachin announced his retirement from shorter format when Delhi was burning. It was hurting for a cricket fan because he went way when 1 billion people went ready to stand up and salute the champion for his contributions that is never matching to any others. what more hurting was that some political thoughts made it a cover for government's escape attitude towards the Delhi rape victim. Not to go in detail, it was a bad day in many ways. We made a mistake. So is Sachin? He never wanted to have people's attention, but his decision was indeed unlucky for us more than Sachin himself.

So what’s next. A projected whitewash in Africa could make the Champion think again about his future plans. Indeed all that we can hope for is his hard work ends up in positive result. But if not, can we pay the price for watching him calling up a press meet and announce his retirement? I pray it won't  happen at any cost. Even if it is in a losing cause there should be a google image for Sachin's last test with the entire ground giving him the 'Guard of Honour'. Each and everyone knows who Sachin was, and who Sachin is for India. And 'what Sachin has to' is above all.. The 'Never Say Die ' attitude won't vanish from his mind and his passion would go on forever. But each cricket fan has the ambition to salute him and applaud him like nothing for one last time when he makes a call. Be it in Africa or any other nation. Before He gets ready for what the unacceptable we thought for years, it is people who should prepare for. It's not about youngsters. Its not about replacements. It’s all about gratitude of a cricket crazy nation for their "Cricket GOD".