“I thought we played good cricket for the first 10 overs and for the next 30 we were just absolutely rubbish. In one line, we were rubbish” This is what Sourav Ganguly said in the press conference after KKR lost to RCB on 10th April, 2010.
“Let's be honest. I can talk, I can lift them up but they need to lift themselves. I can't go and field for them. I can't go and bowl for them.” This is also what Sourav Ganguly said immediately after the first line mentioned above.
It shows the kind of passion he has retained even years after his controversial descend from captaincy of the Indian team. It is not just this but his recent commitment and leadership on the field during IPL-3 which shows his dedication towards the sport and the loyalty he feels towards the side he represents as he nears the age of 38.
He has thrown himself around so much that in a recent interview, the bowling coach of KKR, Wasim Akram said that Ganguly is currently the best fielder in the side. This means that the best fielder of a side need not be as athletic as Gibbs or needs to fly like Jonty Rhodes. He just needs to be more than willing to contribute towards victory, towards stopping those extra runs or take those catches which make you win matches (and of course, the others need to be worse than you because Ganguly was never even close to being the best fielder in the Indian side).
‘The Prince of Calcutta’, known for his audacity and aggression from the beginning of his captaincy career has shown those signs yet again after being pretty unsuccessful in the first 2 seasons of the Indian ‘Paisa’ League. This time he led from the front and at least did not finish last like the last time and the team did show better performances, though towards the second half of the league.
When in the Indian team, he brought about big changes after he took over the baton of captaincy from Sachin Tendulkar in 2000 after the latter stepped down. The team at that time was over-dependent on Tendulkar and had no-one dangerous in the bowling attack. And when Ganguly left, we had a much more balanced side, the batting lineup could win matches without Sachin and the bowling attack had names like Zaheer, Bhajji, Irfan, Ishant, Nehra who are certainly match-winners in themselves. They all may not match up to the other international best bowlers, but our side looks much better on paper and on field.
All the credit cannot go to Ganguly only but a lot of it does. Players like Yuvraj, Sehwag, Bhajji, Agarkar, Kaif and more have said that Ganguly has played a vital role in shaping their careers.
He was unorthodox, maverick and did not hesitate when it came to fighting for himself or for his players. He always pressed on selectors to give the above mentioned players extra chances when they were not in form because he saw the talent in them.
He was also one of the few Indian players who verbally also gave it back to the opponents whether on the field or off. During the 2003 Australian tour, Steve Waugh asked him to be on time for the toss to which he replied, “If you behave, I will.”
During the England tour in 2007, in one of the one-dayers, Stuart Broad was ‘trying’ to sledge, people expected Ganguly to reply with the bat or sledge back. But our dear dada scolded Broad saying, “You should know how to talk to your seniors. You must have been in your nappies when I started playing for India.”
There are many more instances and quotes but the highlight of his gestures was when he took his shirt off at the Lord’s balcony when India beat England in that Natwest Series final in July 2002. Who doesn’t remember that?
After retiring and having a spat with Greg Chappell, we all counted him out and not many apart from some from Kolkata cheered for him when IPL started. But after two years, in the third season he came back and came back strong. He put his foot down, performed and led by example in all departments on the field. But when the other players didn’t do much and some didn’t do anything at all, he gave up and gave it back to them during the press conference.
Cheers and tribute to one of the most successful captains of India ever and the man who took Indian crickets to new heights.
