Silk through Off, Cruel to Spinners and Dada to the young brigade
When Saurav walked into the stadium on the 4th day to bat for the last time in the Indian Shirt the whole stadium was shouting 'Dada, Dada'. All his colleagues were out on the balcony clapping. The Australian commentators were trying to explain it to the Aussie audience what 'Dada' meant in Hindi.
I say, Saurav can leave the theater but the theater can never leave Saurav. He got out for a first ball zero in his final innings as did the great Sir Don Bradman.
I am sure a lot of people must be wondering why would teammates refer to someone as their 'Elder brother'. However, that is what Saurav was to most of the young generation of Indian cricketers. From Zaheer to Harbhajan, to Kaif to Yuvraj, to Sehwag to Dhoni, they all became the world beaters because they flourished under him. As the popularity grew first most of his contemporaries started calling him Dada. Then the media picked it up and then the whole of India. He became India's Dada.
Just before I was leaving for the US, Ganguly and Dravid were selected for the England tour. Ganguly/Dravid in the first match scored a hundred and Dravid a 90. That was the start of a new generation of Indians who ruled Indian limelights for next 12 years. For the first one year I followed their career on the internet. I remember that me and a friend of mine had a big argument over who is better Ganguly-Dravid or Ponting-Baven. Baven fell off in time and now Ganguly has retired. But Ponting and Dravid are still going on. Let us see who wins this battle.
I first saw Ganguly in a test match when I came back from the US. I was amazed at his skill to penetrate off side field. Though, he didn't play on the leg at all but was brilliant through off.
Ganguly would be remembered not only for his batting but also for his captaincy. It could be luck or the face of changing India but one of the accomplishments that he would be remembered by is to threw away the zonal controversy that used to happen before him. He picked his team without bias of any zones. If you look at Indian cricket team (& Bollywood) it is a perfect example of a secular country at its best.
One of the qualities of a great leader is that he knows when and how to enhance other person's talent. You need to be honest to your profession and always give the right suggestions even if they come at a cost. This is what Saurav did to the young brigade. He took bunch of young talent, gave them breathing space to enhance their talent under him. He sometimes even let them run wild.
'The Times of India' came out with a title 'Robin Hood and his merry men', it described the feelings of these young cricketers towards Ganguly. As 1999 India-Australia series winded down every one knew that Indian cricket was at its lowest ebb. We were thrashed in Australia barring a few brilliant individual performances. Match fixing saga with some of the great names in cricket including Hansie Cronje, Mark Waugh, Salim Malik and Azharuddin were implicated. From here on Saurav took the reigns of Indian team. Slowly and gradually he collected his merry men and from no where turned them into world beaters. He gave them confidence and they gave him success. Who can forget the unbelievable chase which Yuvraj and Kaif scripted in Natwest trophy final.
He was unlike any other Indian captain, he wore his emotions on his sleeve. He got hurt when Flintoff took off his shirt in Bombay after beating India and Saurav was not to be left behind. He took his shirt off on the Lord's balcony after the most unlikely win that you would ever watch. Can you imagine doing that in a place where members can't walk in without a tie and jacket. Members of Lord's would be offended, so be it, he statement was very clear if you respect my country and my people I respect you, if you don't, I don't.
As a batsman he had one limitation against short pitched deliveries and teams planned to exploit it. His average of mid 40s in tests doesn't justify his talent but then he was always number 5 or 6 in the line up. On the positive side he was probably one of the finest one day batsman and in later half of his career he should the stoutness of a fighting test cricketer.
The greatest accolade doesn't come from media or fans but from your contemporaries. Rahul Dravid had ones said that "Through the off side first there is God and then there is Saurav", He could pierce off side with a surgeons precision. Great hand-eye coordination and impeccable timing made him a great player to watch. Sangakarra the other day was saying that Srilanka used to discuss at length on how to stop Saurav from scoring through off and yet on the field it was impossible to do that.
I remember an alcohol manufacturer wanted to promote his whiskey in India and to promote how smooth it is, they used Saurav's name. The advertisement told the viewers that the whiskey is as smooth is Saurav's cover drive. That was Saurav through the off.
He was almost cruel to spinners. He could dance down the track and loft spinners into stands almost at will. Murlitharan is a champion bowler but he would never forget that day in 1999 English world cup when Saurav thrashed him to all parts for his 183.
When Rahul Dravid had declared the innings in Pakistan with Sachin on 194, the media cried fouled. However, Ganguly's ability to put winning before everything else and drilling that into Rahul and everyone else around him was the real cause.
We all would remember him as a captain uncomparable and the greatest parting gift came from now India captain 'Dhoni' in the last test match against Australia. He let saurav lead the side for the last wicket. He ended up as winning captain.
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