Friday, October 24, 2008

There is God, and then...


There was a time when in order to just aspire to be in the Indian national cricket team, you either had to be from Bombay or you had to be Kapil Dev. It was during such a time that a young cub walked into the side from Bengal. Bengal? Why, Bengalis are supposed to dabble in arts, they are artistic people; Gurudev, Ashok Da, Kishore Da, all these are cases in point. But a cricketer from football-savvy Bengal? This was what people thought when one Sourav Ganguly walked into The Gabba the donning the Indian colours. Of course, he was promptly shown the way out once the series was over. Surely, a flash in the pan...

But then, the cub returned a 'white' tiger, and the roar was loud and clear. If debuting in Lords' is in itself, an achievement, then smashing a century in that very game is the stuff of dreams. Sourav was here to stay. Now, I haven't seen Graeme Pollock play (they say he was gifted with grace) and I have seen precious little footage of David Gower, but surely, there is no better sight in this beautiful game than a Sourav scorcher through extra cover! It's no wonder that even Walls spoke about how there was God on the offside, and then there was Sourav Ganguly!

They said he didn't know what 'leg-side' was, and though he had the gift of threading needles on the off side, he showed that he could deal adequately well with the on side as well. They said he looked ungainly in dealing with the short ball; and I am yet to see a person who claims not to be. Probably the great Viv Richards was a tad better at playing it. They said he was proud and arrogant; I would take a specific example of Andrew Flintoff, though there have been many others. Surely, this is most hypocritical from somebody who didn't have the comportment and 'Englishmmanly' conduct to dance half naked, twirling his shirt, after drawing (not even winning) a one day series in, if my memory doesn't deceive me, Chennai. That he got a fitting response from Sourav in the Home of Cricket, in his own backyard, is another thing. "You get back what you give" was what Sourav had opined of that incident. Well, he had more to get; from the point of being acclaimed as a national hero, he reached his nadir as Captain of England, with whitew'ashes'!

Which brings me to my next point of discussion about Sourav, captaincy. From the outset, there was one thing that I was sure about Dada's captaincy; he wasn't bringing any of his grace in batting into his captaincy. For Dada, captaincy meant playing hard and aggressive. Circumstances did little to frighten him. He looked the great Steve 'Iceman' Waugh in the eye and got the better of him and his team not once, but as if to reaffirm, twice. Pity that no other contemporary captain couldn't take the cue from him. Of course, many unbelievable performances helped him; Kolkata, Trent Bridge, Lords, Brisbane,Adelaide; but hey, is it a coincidence that many of such special performances have been concentrated during the period of Dada's captaincy? Small wonder that half the players in India's current squad owe their existence and subsistence to Dada! Not for nothing is he the most successful captain in Indian Cricketing history! So, every time somebody points a finger at him, I simply say "Beat that, dude"!

Still, he was always under scrutiny. Everybody (you know who) were waiting like vultures for a chance. And sure enough, they got their chance when he was unceremoniously dispatched from the squad. End of story? No, not yet, not if you claim to know Dada. Here was a chance to flaunt his never-say-die attitude and he wasn't letting go of it in a hurry. He was prepared to bend his back and work his way back.

"Mera naam Sourav Ganguly hai...bhule to nahi?"

And then came the Phoenix-ness. One more characteristic that 'they' said he didn't have,ending up in him coming out trumps. An interesting tidbit...from the time he has made his comeback into the Indian test team, he has been India's best and most consistent batsman with an average of over 50! I hope the point is taken now without argument. So, after fielding a volley of questions on VRS (it appears that the Laws of Conservation do not apply to the Indian media; they make up absolutely useless stuff out of thin air), when the great man, and I am sure any prudent person reading this would agree when I use this adjective for Dada, said "One more thing lads,...", people half knew what he was going to say. Again, perfect timing and a masterstroke! Midway in to his farewell series, it is no surprise that he is the prime contender for Player of the Series! That would certainly be the icing on a fantabulous cake, the greatest India has ever known, in many aspects.

So, on the offside, there is God, but then...

This Cookie won't Crumble so easily...