The Prince is Gone – Long Live the Prince
As a great fan and follower of Indian cricket and DADA, it is with great disappointment and regret that I have been following the happenings (read: politics and dirty play) in Indian cricket. The very essence of the word “Team India” seems to have been lost. I choose to call it a word, because the two are inseparable and the former without the latter and vice-versa wouldn’t make much sense.
India’s most successful captain, the second highest century maker in ODI’s, et al are all well known facts that has been oft quoted in the media, but the very person behind all this has been treated shabbily, which has become a trend rather than an occurrence in India cricket. I watched the last test match at Delhi, not because I wanted to watch cricket, but to see how the former Indian captain gelled with the team and his on-field behavior. It was very interesting observing the transition that Ganguly went through the five days on field. The first day was more of a lone-affair, with Ganguly walking back alone at the end of day’s play. He was there when the maestro scripted his record breaking 35th hundred. Call it fate, call it coincidence, but that pair was once feared by every cricketing team on the planet when they walked out to bat in ODI’s.
The second day marked a more professional on-field approach, giving valuable tips and advice to the bowlers. There was a genuine effort from the part of the former to shed his much talked about “attitude” and be a part of “Team India”. Through the test match, there was a visible change, and in the final day, Ganguly was standing at second-slip next to the current Indian captain, waiting for the victory. At the end of the match, Dravid brought to notice the efforts of Ganguly during the press conference.
Fate is not without a sense of irony they say – and it was evident twice during the match. The man who Ganguly got into the team and groomed to be a match winner, the “apple of his eye” – Yuvraj Singh, who was at the crease when Ganguly misread Murali’s doosra, only to see his stumps shattered, was partially responsible (based on form and future of Indian cricket) for Ganguly’s exit from the team. The second instance was within a few minutes of Dravid’s media briefing, the chairman of selectors, announced that Ganguly has been dropped from the team from the very seat that Dravid made the briefing.
From a practical viewpoint, the future of Indian cricket looks bright and the team building process with world cup 2007 in mind is proceeding well, but the treatment of a man, the very man who was instrumental in the formation of “Team India”, should be treated this very manner. From an emotional standpoint, I am sure a majority of the country’s cricket crazy population sympathizes with Ganguly and agrees that he does not deserve this kind of a treatment.
From the current scheme of things, the words of Jim Morrison seem very apt -
“This is the end, beautiful friend. This is the end, my only friend”
As a fan of Dada, I only wish that the fighter in him doesn’t give up and he comes back as a much stronger player, riding on the back of PERFORMANCE rather than sympathy.
India’s most successful captain, the second highest century maker in ODI’s, et al are all well known facts that has been oft quoted in the media, but the very person behind all this has been treated shabbily, which has become a trend rather than an occurrence in India cricket. I watched the last test match at Delhi, not because I wanted to watch cricket, but to see how the former Indian captain gelled with the team and his on-field behavior. It was very interesting observing the transition that Ganguly went through the five days on field. The first day was more of a lone-affair, with Ganguly walking back alone at the end of day’s play. He was there when the maestro scripted his record breaking 35th hundred. Call it fate, call it coincidence, but that pair was once feared by every cricketing team on the planet when they walked out to bat in ODI’s.
The second day marked a more professional on-field approach, giving valuable tips and advice to the bowlers. There was a genuine effort from the part of the former to shed his much talked about “attitude” and be a part of “Team India”. Through the test match, there was a visible change, and in the final day, Ganguly was standing at second-slip next to the current Indian captain, waiting for the victory. At the end of the match, Dravid brought to notice the efforts of Ganguly during the press conference.
Fate is not without a sense of irony they say – and it was evident twice during the match. The man who Ganguly got into the team and groomed to be a match winner, the “apple of his eye” – Yuvraj Singh, who was at the crease when Ganguly misread Murali’s doosra, only to see his stumps shattered, was partially responsible (based on form and future of Indian cricket) for Ganguly’s exit from the team. The second instance was within a few minutes of Dravid’s media briefing, the chairman of selectors, announced that Ganguly has been dropped from the team from the very seat that Dravid made the briefing.
From a practical viewpoint, the future of Indian cricket looks bright and the team building process with world cup 2007 in mind is proceeding well, but the treatment of a man, the very man who was instrumental in the formation of “Team India”, should be treated this very manner. From an emotional standpoint, I am sure a majority of the country’s cricket crazy population sympathizes with Ganguly and agrees that he does not deserve this kind of a treatment.
From the current scheme of things, the words of Jim Morrison seem very apt -
“This is the end, beautiful friend. This is the end, my only friend”
As a fan of Dada, I only wish that the fighter in him doesn’t give up and he comes back as a much stronger player, riding on the back of PERFORMANCE rather than sympathy.
posted by Barath Shankar Subramanian at
2:55 AM
3 Comments:
Indians should act behaving more professional instead of these dirty under-playing and politics!
dood, u are high on jim morrission pernenially what?!
loved ur blog about the 'gang'! wish we could all live those last 4-5 yrs again...*sigh*
nice blog mate...keep them coming! :)
Hi there, strolled into your blog via Kumari's. I must say you have expressed what's happened to Ganguly beautifully. I was emotional reading it in full, especially towards the end. Somehow, it seems, the majority tends to forget the good a person has done and is quick to latch on to any negatives to bring a downfall. It's good there are people like you out there - emotional yet objective.
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