R-Word: Strike One!

Okay, so this is more than a day late, but I was totally swamped with laziness, ahem, I mean, work yesterday, so here goes: Oh my God people, the Dada has decided to retire after the Australia series!

I was expecting this for sometime, but the timing of the announcement took me aback, and for the briefest of moments, even made me a teensy bit emotional. I mean, yeah, barely a couple of days ago I wrote a uber-long post which, among other things, criticised Ganguly's selection in the team, but now, actually faced with the fact that the next (I think) four Tests will be his last? I feel weird and almost... guilty. (Though that could be because of the truckload of articles and features that've popped up over the last 24 hours eulogising his career, his captaincy and even making almost-affectionate references to his arrogance and calling it a way to get his 'team together and against opponents'.)

Still! Not so long ago (and even now, to an extent) I was a huge fan of his, and I sincerely hope that, a month from now, he goes off with a bang, a few centuries under his belt, the glint of the Nagpur sun on the Border-Gavaskar Trophy nestled in Kumble's arms reflecting off his contact lenses (under which secret tears will be welling, and my sickeningly romantic soul will be imploding, and oh! the possibilities!).

... Okay. So what do I remember of Ganguly's career?

Yeah, I've heard/read all the comments about how only 'God can play better than Ganguly in the off-side' (seriously, Dravid, you're such a geek) - and maybe I started watching him too recently (2004-ish) to agree/disagree with that statement (and I know bat-shit about the inner technicalities of cricket, like any good fangirl) but I don't know, I've seen him place some truly awesome boundaries through insanely packed offside fields - it's like he guides the ball with his hands, his bat away from the body, feet barely moving at all (which makes it look ungainly for me - I've always preferred the overall fluency of a Raina or a Yuvraj, even if they aren't as great with placement and fine timing, or the sweet precision of a Rahul Dravid or a Tendulkar, or the sublime 'ah! wow!' elegance of a Laxman).

Still, a century on Test debut at Lord's, nearly 7000 runs in Tests, more than 10,000 in ODIs, the honour of being the second-most successful Indian ODI batsman ever after Tendulkar, his wonderful ability to pitch in with his deceptive medium-pace bowling... he was a pretty good cricketer, even minus the captaincy, you know? Sure, he is a horrendous runner between the wickets, has a tendency tp get all selfish-like when he senses a century or a personal milestone, and the less said about his fielding, the better (though he still has the tendency to pull off a great catch or a boundary-saving effort, that has everybody going gaga and Robin Singh actually laughing and blushing in embarassment)... but still. You know.

Still, what has everybody going really gaga over him for? Oh yeah. The fact that he is the most successful Indian captain (so far!).

From what I've read/seen/heard, Ganguly took over the mantle of Indian captaincy (already a freakin' tough job) during a testing time: right after the match-fixing scandal, which saw some great players like Azharuddin exit the game in a cloud of shame. The Indian team, even then, was chock-full of some expectionally talented players - Dravid, Tendulkar, Srinath, Kumble, and such-like - and what's more, all of them were in the prime of their youth and form. With Ganguly in freakishly good form himself, it was a damn good team to inherit - on paper. Somebody needed to pull this team full of talented individuals together, and get them to start pulling their collective weight - not just at home, but also the elusive overseas. And it turned out that hard-nosed, arrogant Ganguly was the right man for the job.

I suppose his arrogance and his tendency to rub opposition players up the wrong way to show them that they weren't boss (oh, I wish I'd watched the '01 series against the Aussies! Ganguly making an irritated Waugh wait for him at the toss must've been hilarious!) was a welcome departure from the usual Indian timidity. It sure did get his teammates fired up and instilled in them a belief that hey, we're playing this game to win, not to make sure we don't lose (both of which are totally not the same thing). And that? That inspired some truly magical performances (a la the Epic Kolkata Comeback against the Aussies in '01, or the Awesome Adelaide Win against the Aussies in '03), overseas victories, and some of the most enduring and captivating memories that the modern Indian cricket fan treasures. And guess what? He contributed in them, too.

My favouritest (what? that's totally a word!) memory of Ganguly has got to be one of my earliest of cricket, and also one of my more exhilarating memories: 2002, the NatWest ODI series final against the Nasser Hussain-led England. I was barely 12 then, just starting to watch the odd cricket match or two to find out what all the fuss was about, but found myself riveted until way past midnight, with my totally cool and equally cricket crazy grandmother giving me company. India had allowed England to pile up more than 300 in the first innings, and those being the good old days where 300 was actually considered a tough total to chase, my grandmother (even though I credit her for invoking my interest in cricket, she's quite the pessimist when it comes to the Indian team) was already declaring that England had won. We decided to watch the chase, however, and though my memory of the details of the match is hazy at best, we'd lost too many wickets for less runs than was acceptable, and young Yuvraj Singh and Mohammad Kaif, barely out of their teens but strongly Ganguly-backed (I loved that youngster-spotting and backing quality of his captaincy too) and playing for the national team were just stringing together a rearguard partnership. Just when it looked like they would take us out of jail and to victory, Yuvraj got out. Once again the pessimisstic!granny struck, but I remember continually assuring her that we would win somehow and forcing her to stay on till the end (though if I was as worldly-wise as I am now, I'd've probably put off the TV and gone to bed). And to our delight, Kaif hung on with the lower order, and secured victory! We had secured out first overseas win in such a freakin' long time, it wasn't funny! There was much high-fiving between me and my grandmother (and a lot of delirious "I told you so!"s from me).

Now we come to the most important part of the memory (yeah, yeah, I'm a backstory freak): the camera panning to the dressing room balcony, focussing on Ganguly screaming his lungs out (he's got pretty teeth. Just saying.), bare-chested (ooh), whirling his shirt violently in the air above him, his many chains and whatever else he has around his neck, bouncing up and down on his hairy chest. No sooner had I finished gaping at this image than he was running onto the field (shirt unfortunately, ahem, I mean, miraculously back on) crashing into a tired Kaif who was making his way slowly back to the pavilion, hugging him to the ground. The rest of the team had apparently caught the captain's delirium, and fell collectively on top of the two, and it was a sight like I'd never seen before (until of course, the Twenty20 World Cup came around, and I saw Dhoni's shirt removing at an age where I could... well, better appreciate it...).

Ahem, the thing is, this is one of my earliest and precious memories of watching cricket. Ganguly sort of reached his high point in '03-'04 -- what with leading the team to the finals of the '03 World Cup, making Australia struggle for a series draw in their own backyard, and acheiving dramatic Test and ODI series wins in a much-hyped tour of Pakistan in '04. After that, though, things began to go downhill -- and how! He was undergoing a prolonged form slump, and seemed to think he deserved to be in the team for his captaincy alone. He plumped for Greg Chapell as coach, not foreseeing that that would be the cause of the most trying period in his cricketing career.

Cricket took a backseat for me in 2004 and most of 2005, so I didn't really pay much attention to the Chappell-Ganguly spat -- it was only much later that I read up on the sordid affair -- that finally led to him losing his captaincy to Rahul Dravid, and getting booted out of the team. Almost the whole of 2006 he was out of contention for a spot in the nation, and I seemed the only person that I knew who held any hope that he would return to play for India. I remember so many times I defended Sourav even as my friends joked about him becoming a commentator/umpire/coach to try and get back on the field.

And guess what, guys? He came back! And right in time for the World Cup, too!

After his Famous Comeback, however, I began to feel more and more critical of him. I don't know, I feel his batting has a selfish tinge to it. I mean, that fifty against Bangladesh in the World Cup that took more than 100 balls? I mean, what the hell? Is he just happy to see a 50 or a 100 next to his name, and assumes that puts him above criticism, even if the team loses? And also, in late 2007 in the Nagpur chase against the Aussies. He entered the 80s, the chase was going along well, and suddenly his pace slows down. The innings slows down. By the time somebody comes and forces the pace, it is too little, too late. We lose a match that we were actually winning for the most part. What, Sourav? Wanted a century? Whatever happened to settled batsman forcing the pace and running hard when a new partnership had to be built in a tough chase?

... Oh well. This post wasn't supposed to be critical, but that's Ganguly for you: he induces a veritable mixture of emotions and reactions in you. But you know what? He was an awesomely colourful character, and the Attitude of the Indian team today owes something to him. The fact that we are winning overseas today also owes something to him. Superstar Indian cricketers of today, like Dhoni and Zaheer and such-like also owe him something for his unrelenting backing of them, and getting them their successful international breaks.

So, yeah. Four more Tests, and against the one opponent he has annoyed the most. One final, royal snub, eh, Dada? And... I hear retired life ain't so bad - you've got a few businesses running home already. Politics might not be a bad option, you're unbelievably popular in your state, or so we hear (and see!). Just one thing: no commentating, okay? There're enough ex-players annoying viewers world-wide already as it is.

Seriously.