Who is India's finest captain? Well, to know the answer to this innocuous question, all you have to do is to jog down the memory lane and stop at a particular point 9 years ago. India vs Australia at The Eden Gardens, Kolkata. By the middle of the third day of the test match, India was in so bad a position that a draw was looking improbable, and a victory the stuff of imagination. Ticket sales threatened to drop to an almost negligible level. But at the end of the fifth day, only one name was being chanted in the stands-"Dada", "Dada",'"Dada". The world's greatest team had been stopped in its tracks and a world record string of victories was ended. Following on,India had won the test match. The Indian captain's name was Saurav Ganguly.
Considering that only a few months ago,the Indian team had been at the centre of a match-fixing scandal, and the Indian fans and supporters,felling cheated, had lost interest in the game and in th Indian team. But Dada, with his characteristic grittiness, determination and skill, healed these wounds over the next few years by building the Indian team into a strong unit ,full of self-belief.Unlike the teams of the 1990s, this team had no fear and didn't fall prey to self-doubt in foriegn conditions and pitches. By 2003, the best batting line-up in the world had been formed with some of the world's greatest batsmen rallying around Ganguly. India became a team to be feared and respected, and was soon amongst the top teams in the world. Series victories against Australia,Sri Lanka,Pakistan in Pakistan, and South Africa followed.The Natwest Trophy Final win was another toast to his leadership.India reached the World Cup finals under his captaincy.
Ganguly was himself one of the mainstays of the team, scoring over 20000 runs in his international career. Even though he had a weakness against the short ball, he could successfully counter it and still play some magical innings. He was known as "The God of the Offside". However, the bottomline is that he was an aggressive captain who gave no quarter to the opposition. He was a great man and captain and will always be remembered fondly in India's cricketing circles.
Considering that only a few months ago,the Indian team had been at the centre of a match-fixing scandal, and the Indian fans and supporters,felling cheated, had lost interest in the game and in th Indian team. But Dada, with his characteristic grittiness, determination and skill, healed these wounds over the next few years by building the Indian team into a strong unit ,full of self-belief.Unlike the teams of the 1990s, this team had no fear and didn't fall prey to self-doubt in foriegn conditions and pitches. By 2003, the best batting line-up in the world had been formed with some of the world's greatest batsmen rallying around Ganguly. India became a team to be feared and respected, and was soon amongst the top teams in the world. Series victories against Australia,Sri Lanka,Pakistan in Pakistan, and South Africa followed.The Natwest Trophy Final win was another toast to his leadership.India reached the World Cup finals under his captaincy.
Ganguly was himself one of the mainstays of the team, scoring over 20000 runs in his international career. Even though he had a weakness against the short ball, he could successfully counter it and still play some magical innings. He was known as "The God of the Offside". However, the bottomline is that he was an aggressive captain who gave no quarter to the opposition. He was a great man and captain and will always be remembered fondly in India's cricketing circles.
No comments:
Post a Comment