Sourav Ganguly : Great Captains of Indian Team
Some felt he couldn't
play the bouncer, others swore that he was God on the off-side; some laughed at
his lack of athleticism, others took immense pride in his ability to galvanise
a side. Sourav Ganguly's ability to polarise opinion led to one of the most
fascinating dramas in Indian cricket. Yet, nobody can dispute that he was
India's most successful Test captain - forging a winning unit from a bunch of
talented, but directionless, individuals - and nobody can argue about him being
one of the greatest one-day batsmen of all time. Despite being a batsman who
combined grace with surgical precision in his strokeplay, his career had
spluttered to a standstill before being resurrected by a scintillating hundred
on debut at Lord's in 1996. Later that year, he was promoted to the top of the
order in ODIs and, along with Sachin Tendulkar, formed one of the most
destructive opening pairs in history.
When he took over the
captaincy after the match-fixing exposes in 2000, he quickly proved to be a
tough, intuitive and uncompromising leader. Under his stewardship India started
winning Test matches away, and put together a splendid streak that took them
all the way to the World Cup final in 2003. Later that year, in Australia, an
unexpected and incandescent hundred at Brisbane set the tone for the series
where India fought the world's best team to a standstill. Victory in Pakistan
turned him into a cult figure but instead of being a springboard for greater
things, it was the peak of a slippery slope.
The beginning of the end
came in 2004 at Nagpur - when his last-minute withdrawal played a part in
Australia clinching the series - and things went pear shaped when his loss of
personal form coincided with India's insipid ODI performances. Breaking point
was reached when his differences with Greg Chappell leaked into public domain
and his career was in jeopardy when India began their remarkable revival under
Rahul Dravid.
His gritty 30s at Karachi,
when India succumbed to a humiliating defeat in early 2006, weren't enough for
him to retain his spot and some felt he would never get another chance. Others,
as always, thought otherwise and they were proved right when he was included in
the Test squad for the away series in South Africa in 2006-2007. He ended as
the highest Indian run-scorer in that series and capped his fairytale comeback
with four half-centuries on his return to ODIs. He continued his fine run in
England, where he finished as the second highest scorer in Tests, and went on
to slam back-to-back hundreds against Pakistan at home, the second of which was
a glorious 239 in Bangalore. Ganguly was surprisingly omitted from India's ODI
squad for the CB Series in Australia and has been out of contention in the
one-day squad since. After a poor Test series in Sri Lanka, there were reports
of him considering retirement but he was given a lifeline in the Tests against
Australia at home. Two days before the first Test, he said the series would be his
last.
No comments:
Post a Comment