Friends, Romans and Countrymen...(June, 2004)

A letter made its way through the Indian Ocean and reached a mother in Behala, Kolkata on an afternoon in January 1992. “They are making life so difficult over here..the captain is aloof, I can’t speak my mind in meetings, the fast bowlers are turning it on and the pitches are as friendly as a politician during communal riots”.

Saurav Ganguly’s baptism by fire was indeed scorching; and though the captain did his bit to make the rank newcomer feel out of place on what is considered to be the toughest of foreign tours for a sub continental cricketer, he shouldn’t have complained. After all, he was a professional who was getting paid for taking blows on and off the field, and he should have realized that his kingdom was, at least then, a mere spot on the face of the cricketing world.

Granted that he fought back like the biscuit brand he endorses and rewrote cricketing history when he painted his way to a ton on debut, still that doesn’t change the fact that he has got abominable footwork. And since you don’t need footwork to negotiate the vicious swinging conditions of a London morning and a debut in Lords is something that cannot possibly overawe any cricketer, the century was no great shakes.

If you look at comments by past cricketers, remember Bishen Singh Bedi’s opinion about him for Bedi is one of the greatest batsmen India has ever produced and knows a thing or two about batting under a variety of conditions. Only lesser batsmen and students of the game like Rahul Dravid can make comments like when it comes to the off-side there is God, and then there is Saurav. And even nowadays when he is in pathetic form, there are certain irritating elements who remind that very few people have their averages above the 40 mark in both forms of the game? How asinine can one get….

He is impolite and a disgrace to the Indian spirit which he amply showed during his soccer fan like vandalizing of the Mecca of the cricketing fraternity (where a security guard once rightly insulted a non-English vagabond who answers to the name of Sunil Gavaskar) when he twirled his shirt after winning just another one day international. Few former Indian captains rightfully censured this act for this contradicted the soft, graceful loser image Indian cricket had painstakingly acquired over the years through insipid body language and fatalistic performances on field. After all the term Hindu rate of growth should have its cricketing reflection. Some people also have this habit about mentioning a similar and more provocative act by Andrew Flintoff on Indian soil and on field, and directed towards Saurav (updating their county dynamics). But they forget, Flintoff is from the country that invented the game and gave us Railways and table manners. And for God’s sake, that was the venerable Lords and this was the lowly Wankhade.

After all, when you are abused on the field, you are supposed to listen like a freshman if you are from the subcontinent. Sunil Gavaskar and Javed Miandad (both had this penchant for Dennis Lillee) have trodden the dastardly alternate path and not done much for their countries. Thus we definitely don’t again need someone who promises to give it back in equal measure.

Did someone say India’s most successful captain? O yes, even I’ll do a good job of going out in shorts for the toss and taking gambles right and left. Selection and backing of newcomers is also something that has happened in the past with much better results. It is a matter of common knowledge that Arshad Ayub, Venkatapathy Raju, Rahul Sanghvi, Bhupinder Singh Sr. and the rest have left an indelible mark on Indian cricket which can never be dreamed of by the potential of the likes of Harbhajan Singh, Yuvraj Singh, Zaheer Khan, Ashish Nehra, Mohammad Kaif, Irfan Pathan and Lakshmipathy Balaji. And as you can make out they are all Bengalis it makes Saurav one of the most partial and parochial captains of all times. Overseas victories, beating the world champs at home, retaining the Border-Gavaskar and in the process changing Australian views about Indian batting spine, Pakistan triumphs, World Cup performances- an unusually high number of flashes in the pan. God, he is so lucky.

Even a Mandira Bedi can make out that he is terribly suspect against short-pitched stuff. The sublime 144 at the placid Gabba pitch, though, is something to be discounted - the chin music doesn’t have those extra pieces of orchestra if it is not on a fast pitch like Galle and with an opposition like Bangladesh. The same discount holds for the two blinders of 74 and 77 that he gifted to the two fastest bowlers in the world only recently. The less said the better about his fielding…his catching in the slips is outrageous, Anil Kumble will surely vouch for that. Again, what can I say about his running between the wickets, the lazy regal person he is, he takes the short cut to scoring runs, hitting elegant fours and titanic sixes! What a shirker!

And yes, don’t get me wrong; for I have come to bury Saurav, not to praise him.