He Who Always Tests His Welcome

The danger of getting Ganguly on is the problem of asking him to leave

That Sourav Ganguly was not picked up in the IPL auction is a mystery to no one except Bengalis in Bengal and a clutch of former cricketers. Bengalis, we can safely discount, because though an intelligent lot, they become curious­ly blinkered and fanatical when it comes to a select list with Ganguly right at the top, along with bandhs. Former cricketers like Kapil Dev have two axes to grind when they say that Ganguly has not been picked for non-cricketing reasons. The IPL is responsible for throwing Kapil out of his last job and former cricketers like to believe that the country owes them a debt.

There is, however, a bigger puzzle in the death knell of Ganguly the cricketer. And that is the question: how does Ganguly maintain a self-appraisal which is so remarkably at odds with that of those around him? Consider these facts—here’s a man whose own team management conspired to remove from captaincy by introducing a crazy rotating captaincy norm after he led them to defeat; here’s a man who seems to hang on with his fingernails and perform just when they decide to axe him, and here now is a man who a week before the auction decided that a base price of $200,000 was not enough and doubled it. What was he basing it on if not some idea of himself which is only reflected in the streets of Kolkata? VVS Laxman too did it, but then he’s playing in the Indian Test team at least.

Likewise, to go back to an earlier episode in cricket history when Ganguly facilitated the disastrous introduction of Greg Chappell as coach, only to find the man who arrived a totally different person from the one he had lobbied for. Chappell’s image of Ganguly versus Ganguly’s image of Ganguly did not match. You saw melodrama revolving around how to get one man packing off. Kolkata Knight Riders is merely an action replay.

Ganguly is a great captain, but he’s not the greatest India has produced. Even MS Dhoni would be a better claimant for that honour. Ganguly is a great batsman, but he’s not the greatest by a far stretch. His is a personality exuding cricketing force even if the basis for it has long run out. That’s precisely his problem too. Any team who takes him on will be naturally thinking about how much energy and cunning they would need just to get him to leave once they don’t want him. And that’s not something you want to pay money for.

About The Author

Madhavankutty Pillai

Madhavankutty Pillai has no specialisations whatsoever. He is among the last of the generalists. And also Open chief of bureau, Mumbai  

•