Amid match fixing allegations and investigations, CBI cleared 3 men off their radar saying that they were not at all involved in it - Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar and Saurav Ganguly. Indian cricket still had a lot to look forward to. Enthusiasm was at an all time low and a lot of pessimism among the Indian cricket fans. Little did we all know that this would be a perfect setting for the men in blue to start a new age golden era with newer attitude and grit. Oh Captain!! My Captain!! The Prince of Calcutta along with John Wright brought about a remarkable change in Indian cricket.
But before all this, lets speak about Saurav the player. First picked in 1992 and thrown back out of the team, this guy had the guts to tell his dad that he will be the Captain of Indian cricket team. Then after 4 years, he was selected. On this news Bishen Singh Bedi (legendary Indian spinner) quotes "Sourav Ganguly is a proven failure" while Tiger Pataudi (great Indian Cricket Captain) quotes "His selection proves quota system is still prevelant". And Saurav's response was nothing but just a century in each of his 1st 3 Test matches wow... and then there was no turning back. All his career, he has been bestowed with the unenviable role of proving his critics wrong and there was no shortage for that. He has always been a few shots away from greatness and his weaknesses is something that is known by every other bowler now. But I choose not ever to speak about his innings or stats here because his contributions are more than that. He is an inspiration for the human in me, in all of us.
Sourav the captain, knew what he wanted, trusted his gut feelings and trusted his teammates. It is only because ; of his stubborness that Harbhajan Singh was picked ahead of Sarandeep Singh for the 2001 Series against Australia ; he spotted Mahendra Singh Dhoni and wanted him to be included in the side; Yuvraj Singh has been able to hold on to his spot in the team inspite of inconsistent performance. But maybe more that this, his contribution to Indian Cricket was the shift in attitude and self-belief. He was a fearless captain and very instinctive and the team reflected that. Under him, the adjective Team India was coined. Under him, Team India would not shy away from any verbal confrontation and would take the other teams in their home turfs. This started getting reflected in the Away wins we started to have. Under him, youngsters got a lot of chances (although Aakash Chopra might not agree to that). To quote from article I read after his dishonourable exclusion from the side, "Maybe the powers that are will determine that this man will never play agin for India but the the current youngsters like Yuvrajs, Pathans, MSD, who are playing for Team India and the ones after them need to remember that there is 1 man to thank for who paved the way for them".
Well to say the least, Saurav was so human like all us. So imperfect and yet too stubborn, So self-confident almost on the verge of looking arrogant (and arrogant too he might be) and many a times so full of himself and yes, so unpredictable. It was this quality along with him deliberately assuming an aggressive body language at times but also, always wearing his heart on his sleeve that endeared him to us. With Sachin it was always awe, with Rahul it was always respect, with Saurav we felt too connected to love him or loathe him or hate him. We have all secretly admired him as he showed us that for all our imperfections and with all our imperfections, we still can take on the world. For that and only for that, you will always be my favourite criketer ever.
I hope I am keeping aside the topic of cricket for some time on this blog until such time arises that the game inspires and invites me to write again.
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