He hails from the Mecca of Indian Cricket. The land of the ‘babus’ and of course the mouth watering Rasagullas (Pronounce ro-sho-gulla). The man needs no introduction for he is considered as the ‘God of the Off-Side.’ Sourav Gangly scripted a dream debut in the early 90’s where he scored a sparkling ton in the home of World Cricket – LORDS. There has been no looking back ever since. He, along with good friends Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar went on to redefine Indian Cricket in the mid-90’s. They were soon christened as the ‘Three Musketeers’ of Indian Cricket.
The ‘Three Musketeers’ led a charmed life reaching unparallel heights. Adversaries came, adversaries went but none could match the charisma, grit and determination of the trio. They took Indian Cricket to the peak and ensured that the future is secure. Everything looked hunky-dory, some would have thought. Spot Fixing scandal – the dreaded word came to haunt them and they were brought under the hammer. The then Indian captain, Md. Azharuddin was banned for life and the entire team was under serious scrutiny. After serious actions taken by the BCCI, a compromising solution was formulated.
Sourav Ganguly, who was transforming into a mature batsman was handed the reins and he was given the responsibility of resurging the team out from the dumps. This was his first instance of having to make a comeback. Not for himself but for 11 men of a disgraced team.
In came John Wright, India’s first foreign coach. With him came innovation, new ideas and the hunger to perform. The Natwest Series, Series victories in Sri Lanka and West Indies and laudable performances in England were some of the highlights of the era under ‘Dada’ as Ganguly is fondly called. The Eden Garden Test in 2000 where Laxman and Dravid scripted a spirited comeback was hugely attributed to Ganguly’s captaincy. Viru Sehwag’s rise as an opener was a child of Ganguly’s creative brain. The emergence of a new prince in Yuvraj Singh had a lot to do with Sourav’s guidance and panache to identify talent. Under him the team went through to the finals of the 2003 World Cup. This was a momentous occasion. Ganguly was pronounced as the best captain India ever had. He was living a dream, a dream no one ever dared to imagine.
In walked Greg Chappell, one of Australia’s most famous Captains and a legendary batsman. He was a task master and craved for more power. There was ego clash between him and Sourav and the dressing room started splitting up. Even then, the team started winning some games and started raking up victories. Bad form saw Ganguly being stripped of his captaincy and he was even dropped from the team for some time. The World Cup Debacle – Considered by many as perhaps the second disgrace to Indian Cricket after the spot fixing allegations. Again the entire team was blamed but the blame was on the ‘Prince of Kolkata.’ He was after all a senior member wasn’t he? Dropped-Disgraced- Destroyed.
The prince came back to his kingdom, the Eden Gardens. Trained hard under his coach, shed sweat and overcame all odds. He soon made it to the team only to be dropped again but this time for a longer period. For almost a year he was in oblivion, but not many knew that he went back to his basics. Trained extra hard, gave his hundred and ten percent and started studying the game. He was leaner, fitter and HUNGRIER. He started churning out centuries after centuries in domestic cricket.
India’s tour of South Africa beckoned. India had called back their crown prince and he was ready for yet another come back. 4 innings with very consistent performances and he was back to doing what he does best – Murdering the bowlers through the off-side. After consistent performance he hung his cricketing shoes in style after hitting a century. He retired from test and ODI cricket on a high, Dada style.
The IPL – India won the inaugural T20 championship and that led to the birth of the IPL. Dada was named Icon and later captain of the Kolkata Knight Riders, co-owned by the charismatic Shah Rukh Khan. The first season did not go to expectation and he was stripped off his captaincy in the second season. This led to poor performance from him and the team dipped lower than the first season. He was re-instated as captain on public demand from his ever-faithful fans. The third edition saw him single handedly taking the team to victories, but he was a lone warrior which didn’t help the team in a huge way. Third year in a row the Knight Riders failed. The blame? Who else but Sourav Ganguly.
The IPL Auction. 2 new teams and a major reshuffle was on the cards. Indian players were selling like hot cake.
Sourav Ganguly with a base price of $400,000. UNSOLD.
Everyone wrote him off. He wont be playing this year they said. He has lost his charm, some pointed out. He no longer has the fire power, others thought.
The WARRIOR PRINCE had other ideas. Pune warriors India signed him as a last minute replacement to Ashish Nehra. They needed him much more than he needed to be in the IPL. They needed motivation and they needed the PHEONIX to RISE again.
Here comes DADA. Let us all rise and hail the MASTER or all COMEBACKS!
