Ganguly: A glittering career comes to an end

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AMITABH BACHCHAN, Hrithik Roshan and Sourav Ganguly have something in common. No, it isn’t any brand that they are endorsing. They have scripted the best comebacks that anyone can remember in their respective fields.
It is said that character is judged in the time of adversity. These three men have sprung a surprise, whenever they have been written off by the critics. Sourav Ganguly — the most charismatic and successful captain that India has ever produced is set to retire soon. This will mark the end of a glorious career in cricket. Whether you loved him or hated him, but you could never be indifferent to him.

An era which started with a bang at Lords in London will end against the most formidable Aussie team. The Aussies have always been wary of the Indians, especially in their own backyard. And as Ganguly said in the Press conference, Tuesday he would like to go off on a winning note.

All eyes will be on the ‘Royal Bengal Tiger’ as he goes out on prowl against the Aussies. Every time he will effortlessly caress the ball through the off side, millions of people all around the country will jump in sheer delight. Throughout his career, Ganguly has been in the media glare. He got the ‘Bad boy’ image, but he gave the team an aggressive outlook, when he took over as captain, something that had not been seen too often in Indian cricket.

He has had his string of ups and downs but the resilience, grit and determination has always stood out under pressure. His partnership with Dravid in the match against Sri Lanka at Taunton in the 1999 World Cup; his hundred against Australia at Brisbane during the last tour and his double hundred against Pakistan in the last series were some of his best performances. Toronto perhaps was his favourite venue, where he won four Man of the Match awards in a series against Pakistan.

As a captain, Ganguly had greater achievements. He won twenty one Tests, out of which twelve were won abroad. His famous Natwest series win against England at Lords, when he flung his T-shirt off and yelled foul words changed the image of Indian cricket and also made Freddie Flintoff a bit more reticent in the future.

His series win against Australia at home in which India scripted a great comeback and went on to win a Test after following on was his greatest achievement. This series is regarded as the best series ever where the underdogs sprung a surprise on the champions and is still one of the greatest inspirational stories in the world of cricket.

India’s maiden win in a series in Pakistan also came under Ganguly captaincy. The Indian team’s performance of reaching the finals of the 2003 World Cup in South Africa could also be credited to the captaincy of Sourav Ganguly, who also struck two hundreds in the series.

Ganguly was the poster boy of Indian cricket for a long time.

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more >> Many feel he may not be as talented as Sachin or as technically correct as Dravid, but when it came to stroking through the off side he was the most gifted player ever.

He did have his weak points like facing the rising short delivery, or fending outside the off stump. He was not one of the best fielders of the side and a poor runner between the wickets. But everyone has some weak points, their Achilles heel.

Ganguly has called it a day now, and let’s not ruin the moment by contemplating, as to why he has done it. There are theories of voluntarily retirement schemes, some sort of deal with the Board and even threats of kidnapping his daughter. Let’s give attention and credit where it is due.

Here’s a cricketer, who has devoted his life to the sport and is one of the most loved sportsmen in India. This is not his end yet, just the beginning of the end. He will be coming back and scaring the hell out of the other bowlers in the IPL seasons. It is time we stood up in admiration of this great cricketer and hope he has a fitting end to a great career.