Just one last time Dada~~Thank you for everything! :)

They say that a cat has nine lives. Put that in perspective and its time to realize that the ‘Man of the moment’ after all is only human being. Yes, he was often compared to a different type of a cat (The Bengal Tiger) but at the end of the day, we all knew that it was only a human being. Err correction may be, a super human-being that the cricketing fraternity was so very blessed to witness for the better part of the past 12 years!

Its been more than 5 days since the Saurav Ganguly’s name was announced in the squad to play Australia and about a day has passed now when he made a statement which meant that the news of Saurav’s selection in an international team wouldn’t be heard again! Normally, a person would be elated when he were to know that something that he’d predicted had come true. My last post had categorically mentioned that the Prince of Calcutta surely would be there in the team but it would only part of the “Golden Handshake” agreement. After the selection, most of my friends and almost all of the media and all of the players themselves were quick to denounce any such theory. Heck, such a possibility (much to my surprise) wasn’t even discussed as people remarked: “That happens only in Australia!”. Which probably explains why 99% of the junta was taken aback when the actual announcement did come yesterday. I was amongst the 1% who was expecting this but yes, it did leave a lump in my throat. My prediction had come true, it was absolutely the right thing to happen in Indian cricket as well but at the cost of sounding utterly emotional, I must say, I wasn’t exactly feeling on the top of the world!

A legend of not just Indian cricket but of world cricket at that will finally draw curtains on his career at a venue that ironically was the very place where his troubles all began, a venue at which he refused to play, which for most, spelled the ‘beginning of his end’, so to say. He has an opportunity now to redress that and bow out of the game in style; in a manner that thoroughly befits “a good Test batsman, an all-time great ODI batsman and an outstanding leader of men” [lines stolen from the great Shri. Harsha Bhogle :)]. Infact it wont be wrong if 5 years down the line people will have another great Asian cricket captain to talk on, coz for far too long Imran Khan was without company! Having said all this, I was a bit surprised that Saurav chose to announce his decision at the beginning of such an important series. I hope the Indian media doesn’t make the same mistake that its Aussie counterparts did in the season of 2003-04, where clearly the Australian team got quite a bit distracted by the constant focus on Steve Waugh’s swansong. I would have liked the man to make the announcement just before the beginning of the 4th Test; however I’m sure he must have had compelling reasons to have done what he has.

Also, as stated earlier, I’m absolutely convinced that this was the right time for him to exit the scene. We shouldn’t be so hell bent on making all kinds of mistakes ourselves and then try and learn from them. One mistake the Australians made in early 1980s and the lessons from that were so deeply ingrained in them that they’ve somehow now managed the art of “letting players know when its time-up”. We really don’t want a similar scenario in India and the time is just about ripe for atleast two youngsters [Ideally Rohit Sharma and the other one would be a call between giving Yuvraj another chance or going for S.Badrinath) to be blooded in the middle order. Yes, these are tough decisions. Yes, questions such as “What if Saurav scores 4 double 100’s in the 4 Tests?” are bound to arise. Surely, there are no easy answers for these and all I can say is these are just the kind of situations wherein something called as the “gut-feel” needs to take over. Some might laugh at it, in our MBA parlance such words are often dubbed as “gas”. I couldn’t care less though. Someone had to make way for one of these very talented youngsters whilst we still had some experience in the middle order. This was just about the right time hence for the most vulnerable to make a graceful exit and thankfully, Dada has just done that!

All said and done though, as Bishen Singh Bedi and a few others said yesterday, its not a time to grieve. Bengalis shouldn’t think that their Durga Puja celebrations have been rudely interrupted. Indians for that matter should continue to remain in a festive mood. Coz after all, its time methinks to not write a great man’s obituary but to go back into memory lane, think of all the mighty good things that SCG has done for himself and for Indian cricket and to “Bloody thank him for all that!” Lemme say that again, Thank HIM a zillion times!

At a time when Indian cricket was clearly directionless and at a time when even the great Sachin Tendulkar has thrown in the towel, out of nowhere did this man, “The Lord Snooty” as the English media labelled him, took over the reins. And boy, did he “TAKE OVER” or what! Right from backing his instincts and the men he trusted in, to teaching them to ‘look into the opponents’ eye’ and ‘give them back’ when needed, to instilling a raw self-belief in the team, to getting rid of the ‘invisible quota system’ while choosing players, to getting the best of the foreign world when it came to having a great and professional support staff, the man did it all and with distinction at that! One look at most of the famos non-Fab 5 players and you’ll see that most of them were groomed during his reign. Virender Sehwag, Yuvraj Singh, Zaheer Khan, Harbhajan Singh; they’ll still talk in awe about the great man which clearly shows that as a leader of men, SCG commanded respect of the highest order! Yes, Saurav himself should realize that he immensely benefitted from the fact that he had the greatest of “followers” in Rahul Dravid which surely made his job that much easier. Any leader in any field would tell you that its of paramount importance to have atleast one person right under you who’ll trust you without question and who’ll be there with you through thick and thin! (The last part may be contested by some but we’ll leave it for some other day.) Gandhi always had a Nehru by his side, Narayana Murthy will be the 1st to admit that without Nilekani and others by his side, Infosys wouldn’t have been what it is today, on the cricket field Steve Waugh has publicly stated that Adam Gilchrist’s contribution to his success can never be overstated and similarly, SCG will know that he has a lot of people to thank for his glorious career. Dravid, the senior players, Jagmohan Dalmiya [how could you forget him] and then ofcourse a certain Kiwi with whom he shared one of the most warm relationships, though true to its style, the media kept feeding the hoi polloi with something else, most of the time!

Right then, Nagpur it will be where Saurav wil bid adieu and I hope he does get to play there. Make no mistake, if he fails to do well in the 1st 3 tests and if the series hangs in fine balance by then, Anil Kumble will be tempted to commit a grave sin; “the sin of dropping” him for the final Test. Lets get real folks! Its not a completely ‘improbable scenario’ and knowing the proud Bengali that Saurav is, I’m sure he’ll hate to remain in the team purely for sentimental reasons. To ensure that such a thing doesn’t happen its imperative for him to do well at Bangalore itself and start off the series in style. Get some runs under your belt, and then truly realize what it means to play one full series without having to worry about your selection in the playing XI. In his own words, he’d then know what it feels like to “play with a free mind”!

In the end, all that I on behalf of so many of your fans pan-India and across the world can say is: Thank you Dada! Thank you so much for all the fond memories that you’ll behind. At a time when words such as “greatness” and all that is used so very loosely, you for sure, are someone who absolutely deserves to be coronated with such adjectives! Great, Inspirational, Trend-setter, God on the off-side, you truly were all of that and much more. Thank you once again!

P.S. Just one last thing Dada :) Don’t ever feel embarrassed by what you did on the evening of 13th July, 2002, on that balcony at Lords. We all loved it! :) :)