Ganguly Saga Part II
This was originally posted on Amit Verma's Cricinfo blog '23 yards' on 15th December 2005. Obviously little has changed in Indian Cricket since then except that Sourav Ganguly has come back to the Pakistan bound Indian Team. Unfortunately, there is so much that is behind the curtains, under the table that it's hard to believe that this is the same Team India of 2002 - 2004. Hence the urge to update this post.
The fact that Ganguly's inclusion was due to the political pressures put on Sharad Pawar cannot be overemphasised upon. Further with the public outcry that it generated one was not sure whether the Kiran Mores of this cricketing world would be safer in Bin Ladin's hideout or at large in Pune or Baroda wherever they were.
But adding fuel to fire are people like Raj Singh Dungarpur who has no cricketing credentials except that he went for a walk or two with Vijay Merchant or that he watched Wally Hammond play the coverdrives. Well if we all had the money in those days and were the raja of some non-descript colonial outpost living off the alms of the Brits we could have also gone to England to see Wally Hammond's cover drive and the Gilbert Jessop's cow shots. These days he resembles a "relic-non-grata" just like the CCI that he is the president of. What business did he have to raise the Ganguly rumble again, just before such an important series as this ? What importance has it got in this context ? People like him are going to create more problems for Dravid and his team and hence my take in the original post that this Indian team is not going to go far.
Ofcourse Chappell must be the only person happy with this. And who knows what diabolical schemes are running in his head when he answered the scribes query that he had "no differences with Ganguly". Spare us Mr.Chappell.
The queries in the following post have also not changed and neither the answers. Indian Cricket has not moved ahead in this one month or so. The hue and cry over the win against Sri Lanka will soon be lost in the din that is to emerge post Pakistan and we will take stock again.
Oops... one thing seems to have changed after all. Chappell has a signed contract finally.
Dear Amit (posted on '23 yards' 15th December 2005)
Another fine piece that deserves to be commented upon. But I will also refer to Sambit’s post on the main site ‘poignant end’ as well as your earlier one ‘power to the coach’.
These are emotional times where everything will be seen from extreme points of view. Bring on ‘wicket to wicket’ !
While we need to be cold headed a bit of emotion will seep through simply because some people are trying to pull wool over our eyes with the dirty business that is Indian Cricket. Let me take the pains to elaborate a little bit of the events to clarify.
At the time of dropping Ganguly from ODIs & sacking him as captain : Chappellway says Ganguly has to prove fitness and form to get back into team.
At the selection committee’s press-conference for the Chennai Test : Kiran More – Chairman says that Ganguly is included as ‘a bowling all-rounder, eh – batting allrounder’ instead of Zaheer Khan (wonder if he is on dope these days)
Before the AGM in Calcutta : IS Bindra in the PCA web-site lambasts Dalmiya for using, abusing Ganguly to meet his own ends and that in the ‘New Era’ that will not be the case.
Supremo Pawar’s pearls of wisdom : Supports Ganguly’s inclusion in the team and says “He’s one of the best allrounders India has produced”. (don’t know whether we fools should laugh or cry)
2nd day of Chennai Test – Chappellway says ‘Ganguly is another mentor for the youngsters in the side’ and a part of the think-tank. He’s coming on ‘nicely’ and will be valuable with his ‘experience’.
What we saw on the 5 days – 1st inns – India 133 for 3 in walks Ganguly when Sachin himself is fumbling and held in shackles by Murali and co. Ganguly survives an ugly heave and a missed stumping, but thereafter puts his head down to help stich together a partnership of 120 odd with Sachin and helps Sachin in scoring that elusive 35th ton, (we saw what was happening with Sachin on 99) Ganguly gets out to a doosra the next morning and the team collapses. The lead is 60 for India (could have been the other way round) In the field Ganguly’s brains are picked by more than one at various times. But not required to bowl. 2nd innings early shocks and enters Ganguly again in fairly trying times. Dravid runs himself out (or does he want to put the blame on Ganguly this time). Stitches a partnership with Yuvraj of 85 odd in the evening and 4th day morning (where all wickets had fallen in the mornings previously). All of us who know our cricket will agree that he was more fluent in the 2nd dig and was hardly beaten on the 4th morning and soothed Yuvraj’s nerves on more than one occasion when he fumbled against Murali. Ganguly exits for 39 (at which time his & Yuvraj’s strike-rates were quite same) through another doosra. Enter Dhoni, exit Murali from the attack and enter Bandara. Merry making follows and the rest is a cakewalk. Though onfield contributions remain in the SL 2nd innings, despite one misfield of Kumble.
Post match press conference – The captain goes on to praise Ganguly amongst others for playing crucial part in the match at critical junctures.
Selection of 3rd Test (minutes after) – Ganguly chucked out of the window unanimously 7-0 by the selectors, captain & coach team (as reported by ToI). It’s said, he’s not needed in the team and cannot sit on the bench (read between the lines potential disruption of team spirit), etc,etc. but the carrot is held out ‘great player, can come back. Replaced by Jaffer an opening batsman to strengthen openers pool.
Through the chronological events a few questions arise:
a) Does Ganguly warrants a place in the team
b) If no, was this the way to throw a former captain (let’s not get into his greatness as a captain here) and player with more than 15,000 international runs and 34 international centuries ?
Now let us try to answer them:
a) No, probably not, after having groomed Yuvraj & Kaif for more than 4 years now and considering their talent it would not be fair to make them sit on the bench. But here is my next point, what about Kaif instead of Laxman. An inferior fielder again, definitely not in the 2007 scheme, and frankly 8 centuries in 75 tests ?? mark of greatness ?? No, or is that 281 going to remain like an ‘limitless’ debit card ?? So isn’t Laxman’s case another one for a ‘poignant end’ Sambit ?
b) This is the most vital point which raises uncomfortable questions about our cricket as I had raised during the wicket to wicket blog. The whole imbroglio starting post Zimbabwe, actions of Chappell, BCCI (this one or the earlier avatar), Dravid and his converted team mates all reek of a sham going on. Ofcourse, India has been winning a bit in the past couple of months against Sri Lanka, and that will sweep all else under the carpet but they didn’t win the ODI series against South Africa, and sterner tests are coming.
Let us face facts as they have unfolded in the recent past.
Chappell’s true double-face is out – ‘smells like sham spirit’. But his job is only half done. One half of the cancerous cells are out. Harbhajan & Sehwag is still going strong and GSC is alive awake and will not stop till the goal is reached. Is it this ‘power to the coach’ you were talking about Amit. Remember Chappell’s coaching stint in Australia’s Pura Cup days. Even his earlier wards have nothing great to say. Analogy - A Manager who cannot run a Branch is being made the General Manager of a company and such white-licking despots like Raj Singh Dungarpur continue to sing high praises, what’s new ?
The ‘pack of jokers’ continue in their merry drunken way. They are true champions of imperialism again, if this was an Indian Coach would they have listened to him ? Or are they just in awe of a great past batsman ? Hey we are talking about a current coach not a past great cricketer and what he is doing with the Indian Cricket team. No, no, but we are the 5 blind mice.
The current Captain and his comrades – This is the saddest part of them all. Most of the lot playing in the Delhi test had been with Ganguly for the last 10 years. If we remove the newcomers like Dhoni & Pathan (who also made their debut under Ganguly) none of the seniors or the stars had a word to say about his predicament. Have they forgotten how their former captain fought for most of them ? Has Sachin forgotten that five and a half years back when he bade a tearful farewell to captaincy, dropping it like a hot potato and see the still young Ganguly taking up the reigns and from the bottom 3 has taken them to top 3 in a span of 4 years and a small matter of a WC final ? All he can say is “No Comments” !
Has Dravid forgotten how Ganguly bear-hugged him after the series winning Madras Test against Steve Waugh’s Australians on that sultry afternoon in 2001 ? – All he can say is .. no ‘mum’s the word’.
And Kumble – Everytime he had to be dropped for an overseas Test, Ganguly made almost public apology at press conferences, TV shows for his exclusion though till England 2002 he was a below-par overseas performer – Mum again.
Probably, none of them can speak at the moment. Some of them are secretly enjoying the boot, that Sourav got, some of them are probably scared lest they got a wrap on their knuckles from the BCCI or the selectors or the coach. Some may even be disgusted at the turn of events over the last 4 months.
Are we expecting continuous and consistent performance from this bunch ? What precedence are we setting for the new entrants ? As the great Prasanna has reacted we are Indians and like to repeat history specially when it comes to treating our heroes.
I am sorry Amit this had to be a long one but spade has to be called a spade at times.
Synopsis ? Watch my lips, sorry these lines, keep this in your archives, Cricinfo.
Status quo, this Indian Team is going nowhere different. It will remain where it is, probably will slip back to where it was 6-7 years back and yes WC2007 will end up as a pipe dream and ‘Chappell’ will dance all the ‘way’ to the bank in Australia by then. Oh did I see somewhere he doesn’t even have a signed contract till now !!!
The fact that Ganguly's inclusion was due to the political pressures put on Sharad Pawar cannot be overemphasised upon. Further with the public outcry that it generated one was not sure whether the Kiran Mores of this cricketing world would be safer in Bin Ladin's hideout or at large in Pune or Baroda wherever they were.
But adding fuel to fire are people like Raj Singh Dungarpur who has no cricketing credentials except that he went for a walk or two with Vijay Merchant or that he watched Wally Hammond play the coverdrives. Well if we all had the money in those days and were the raja of some non-descript colonial outpost living off the alms of the Brits we could have also gone to England to see Wally Hammond's cover drive and the Gilbert Jessop's cow shots. These days he resembles a "relic-non-grata" just like the CCI that he is the president of. What business did he have to raise the Ganguly rumble again, just before such an important series as this ? What importance has it got in this context ? People like him are going to create more problems for Dravid and his team and hence my take in the original post that this Indian team is not going to go far.
Ofcourse Chappell must be the only person happy with this. And who knows what diabolical schemes are running in his head when he answered the scribes query that he had "no differences with Ganguly". Spare us Mr.Chappell.
The queries in the following post have also not changed and neither the answers. Indian Cricket has not moved ahead in this one month or so. The hue and cry over the win against Sri Lanka will soon be lost in the din that is to emerge post Pakistan and we will take stock again.
Oops... one thing seems to have changed after all. Chappell has a signed contract finally.
Dear Amit (posted on '23 yards' 15th December 2005)
Another fine piece that deserves to be commented upon. But I will also refer to Sambit’s post on the main site ‘poignant end’ as well as your earlier one ‘power to the coach’.
These are emotional times where everything will be seen from extreme points of view. Bring on ‘wicket to wicket’ !
While we need to be cold headed a bit of emotion will seep through simply because some people are trying to pull wool over our eyes with the dirty business that is Indian Cricket. Let me take the pains to elaborate a little bit of the events to clarify.
At the time of dropping Ganguly from ODIs & sacking him as captain : Chappellway says Ganguly has to prove fitness and form to get back into team.
At the selection committee’s press-conference for the Chennai Test : Kiran More – Chairman says that Ganguly is included as ‘a bowling all-rounder, eh – batting allrounder’ instead of Zaheer Khan (wonder if he is on dope these days)
Before the AGM in Calcutta : IS Bindra in the PCA web-site lambasts Dalmiya for using, abusing Ganguly to meet his own ends and that in the ‘New Era’ that will not be the case.
Supremo Pawar’s pearls of wisdom : Supports Ganguly’s inclusion in the team and says “He’s one of the best allrounders India has produced”. (don’t know whether we fools should laugh or cry)
2nd day of Chennai Test – Chappellway says ‘Ganguly is another mentor for the youngsters in the side’ and a part of the think-tank. He’s coming on ‘nicely’ and will be valuable with his ‘experience’.
What we saw on the 5 days – 1st inns – India 133 for 3 in walks Ganguly when Sachin himself is fumbling and held in shackles by Murali and co. Ganguly survives an ugly heave and a missed stumping, but thereafter puts his head down to help stich together a partnership of 120 odd with Sachin and helps Sachin in scoring that elusive 35th ton, (we saw what was happening with Sachin on 99) Ganguly gets out to a doosra the next morning and the team collapses. The lead is 60 for India (could have been the other way round) In the field Ganguly’s brains are picked by more than one at various times. But not required to bowl. 2nd innings early shocks and enters Ganguly again in fairly trying times. Dravid runs himself out (or does he want to put the blame on Ganguly this time). Stitches a partnership with Yuvraj of 85 odd in the evening and 4th day morning (where all wickets had fallen in the mornings previously). All of us who know our cricket will agree that he was more fluent in the 2nd dig and was hardly beaten on the 4th morning and soothed Yuvraj’s nerves on more than one occasion when he fumbled against Murali. Ganguly exits for 39 (at which time his & Yuvraj’s strike-rates were quite same) through another doosra. Enter Dhoni, exit Murali from the attack and enter Bandara. Merry making follows and the rest is a cakewalk. Though onfield contributions remain in the SL 2nd innings, despite one misfield of Kumble.
Post match press conference – The captain goes on to praise Ganguly amongst others for playing crucial part in the match at critical junctures.
Selection of 3rd Test (minutes after) – Ganguly chucked out of the window unanimously 7-0 by the selectors, captain & coach team (as reported by ToI). It’s said, he’s not needed in the team and cannot sit on the bench (read between the lines potential disruption of team spirit), etc,etc. but the carrot is held out ‘great player, can come back. Replaced by Jaffer an opening batsman to strengthen openers pool.
Through the chronological events a few questions arise:
a) Does Ganguly warrants a place in the team
b) If no, was this the way to throw a former captain (let’s not get into his greatness as a captain here) and player with more than 15,000 international runs and 34 international centuries ?
Now let us try to answer them:
a) No, probably not, after having groomed Yuvraj & Kaif for more than 4 years now and considering their talent it would not be fair to make them sit on the bench. But here is my next point, what about Kaif instead of Laxman. An inferior fielder again, definitely not in the 2007 scheme, and frankly 8 centuries in 75 tests ?? mark of greatness ?? No, or is that 281 going to remain like an ‘limitless’ debit card ?? So isn’t Laxman’s case another one for a ‘poignant end’ Sambit ?
b) This is the most vital point which raises uncomfortable questions about our cricket as I had raised during the wicket to wicket blog. The whole imbroglio starting post Zimbabwe, actions of Chappell, BCCI (this one or the earlier avatar), Dravid and his converted team mates all reek of a sham going on. Ofcourse, India has been winning a bit in the past couple of months against Sri Lanka, and that will sweep all else under the carpet but they didn’t win the ODI series against South Africa, and sterner tests are coming.
Let us face facts as they have unfolded in the recent past.
Chappell’s true double-face is out – ‘smells like sham spirit’. But his job is only half done. One half of the cancerous cells are out. Harbhajan & Sehwag is still going strong and GSC is alive awake and will not stop till the goal is reached. Is it this ‘power to the coach’ you were talking about Amit. Remember Chappell’s coaching stint in Australia’s Pura Cup days. Even his earlier wards have nothing great to say. Analogy - A Manager who cannot run a Branch is being made the General Manager of a company and such white-licking despots like Raj Singh Dungarpur continue to sing high praises, what’s new ?
The ‘pack of jokers’ continue in their merry drunken way. They are true champions of imperialism again, if this was an Indian Coach would they have listened to him ? Or are they just in awe of a great past batsman ? Hey we are talking about a current coach not a past great cricketer and what he is doing with the Indian Cricket team. No, no, but we are the 5 blind mice.
The current Captain and his comrades – This is the saddest part of them all. Most of the lot playing in the Delhi test had been with Ganguly for the last 10 years. If we remove the newcomers like Dhoni & Pathan (who also made their debut under Ganguly) none of the seniors or the stars had a word to say about his predicament. Have they forgotten how their former captain fought for most of them ? Has Sachin forgotten that five and a half years back when he bade a tearful farewell to captaincy, dropping it like a hot potato and see the still young Ganguly taking up the reigns and from the bottom 3 has taken them to top 3 in a span of 4 years and a small matter of a WC final ? All he can say is “No Comments” !
Has Dravid forgotten how Ganguly bear-hugged him after the series winning Madras Test against Steve Waugh’s Australians on that sultry afternoon in 2001 ? – All he can say is .. no ‘mum’s the word’.
And Kumble – Everytime he had to be dropped for an overseas Test, Ganguly made almost public apology at press conferences, TV shows for his exclusion though till England 2002 he was a below-par overseas performer – Mum again.
Probably, none of them can speak at the moment. Some of them are secretly enjoying the boot, that Sourav got, some of them are probably scared lest they got a wrap on their knuckles from the BCCI or the selectors or the coach. Some may even be disgusted at the turn of events over the last 4 months.
Are we expecting continuous and consistent performance from this bunch ? What precedence are we setting for the new entrants ? As the great Prasanna has reacted we are Indians and like to repeat history specially when it comes to treating our heroes.
I am sorry Amit this had to be a long one but spade has to be called a spade at times.
Synopsis ? Watch my lips, sorry these lines, keep this in your archives, Cricinfo.
Status quo, this Indian Team is going nowhere different. It will remain where it is, probably will slip back to where it was 6-7 years back and yes WC2007 will end up as a pipe dream and ‘Chappell’ will dance all the ‘way’ to the bank in Australia by then. Oh did I see somewhere he doesn’t even have a signed contract till now !!!
posted by Supratik at 11:00 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home