Phoenix-Arise from the ashes
The Phoenix...
Okay I shall start of with the cliché, Love him, Hate him, you cannot ignore him. I shall come to the 'him' later. Let’s start with the contributions of him which statisticians don’t regard. He is single-handedly responsible for taking the cheer from football in the Mecca of football in India, he is the one who inspired my cousin to take up cricket much to the chagrin of me and my uncle (our family has always been for football), spawned an industry of cricket coaching camps in Kolkata and provided the City of Joy with a Role Model.
Yes he is our very much beloved/hated (based on your perception) Sourav Ganguly. A man who is a living lesson to the adage "fight till your last drop", an inspiration for a generation that success owes so much to the struggle which goes unnoticed. A man who has faced the ignonimity of being dropped and written off only to paint black the faces of his critics (silencing them is an understatement).
Sourav Ganguly's career was well and truly over even before it had started, in the 92 series of Australia. reports of his refusal to carry drinks to the field made more headlines than Ravi Shastri winning the AUDI. The Bombay brigade was ready to jump onto it and wipe off easily any sort of 'other state' player from entering the team.
Team selection has always been a much debated affair in India and there’s more to it than meets the ordinary eye. After the 96 WC, Sourav was back in the team for the England tour. His detractors had written him off as a failure. Sourav and Dravid entered the team at approximately the same time. Wasted no time and scored back to back centuries in England. Critics were silenced but not to be undone they cried hoarse over his Achilles’ heel - the shorty aimed at the ribs. Who does not have one? Sachin is susceptible to the delivery 4 inches outside of stump which McGrath uses to keep Sachin at his mercy; Sir Don and his Larwood Bodyline fiasco is a well known affair, nobody keeps track of those. Everybody has limitations and how one plays with these known issues is what is to be seen and nothing else.
Thereafter much water has flown through the Thames and Sourav was dropped in Toronto for a couple of matches a move which cost Mr Patil his job apparently. Thereafter Sourav had the series of his lifetime next year in Toronto. Went on to handle Captaincy of the Team and did what no Indian caption hadn’t done till date - take the bull by its horns. Intimidating the mighty Aussie Steve Waugh in the home series in a series of verbal duel and winning the Eden Test and thereafter the series started this. It gave the cricket fraternity 2 brief but strong messages - Don’t mess with Ganguly and Aussies are not invincible. What followed next was a tour of down under when under Ganguly's captaincy the Aussies were at their knees at home since the days o the mighty WIndies of the 70s. Ganguly palyed well and built a team around himself which is the perfect blend of youth and experience and the set was really gelling and clicking well. Waving his T-shirt on the pavilion of the Lords made puritans snigger but that i the man, never bothered to mince words or show the world that Indians can do what the rest of the world can do.
Reaching the finals of the WC 2003 was a big event for the team. Bringing Srinath back to the team and make Dravid agree to keep in the matches were shrewd decisions which along with the tremendous knocks of Sachin led to the feat....
What happened next is a set of political upheavals and the powers that be announced a new coach who arrived with the sole intention of wrecking the existing team; by the time the intentions were clear to everybody the damage was done, Ganguly out of the team the players were shuffled around like a pack of cards and India had their worst WC outing in years.
Ganguly was written off and people were waiting for his press conference to declare his retirement. But as the saying goes, "Fighter Humesha jeet ta hai", as I write this Ganguly has scored back to back double centuries in the Pakistan series a century at Eden and a double century at Bangalore (his highest test score) and on the way to have his most successful year in terms of runs in TEST cricket.
I am not a great fan of dada, but am more for Ponting and Dravid but still
I salute you dada......
Everyday people
everyday shame
everyday promise
shot down in flames.
Everyday sunrise
another everyday story
rise from the ashes and blaze
of everyday glory
.....Anonymous
Okay I shall start of with the cliché, Love him, Hate him, you cannot ignore him. I shall come to the 'him' later. Let’s start with the contributions of him which statisticians don’t regard. He is single-handedly responsible for taking the cheer from football in the Mecca of football in India, he is the one who inspired my cousin to take up cricket much to the chagrin of me and my uncle (our family has always been for football), spawned an industry of cricket coaching camps in Kolkata and provided the City of Joy with a Role Model.
Yes he is our very much beloved/hated (based on your perception) Sourav Ganguly. A man who is a living lesson to the adage "fight till your last drop", an inspiration for a generation that success owes so much to the struggle which goes unnoticed. A man who has faced the ignonimity of being dropped and written off only to paint black the faces of his critics (silencing them is an understatement).
Sourav Ganguly's career was well and truly over even before it had started, in the 92 series of Australia. reports of his refusal to carry drinks to the field made more headlines than Ravi Shastri winning the AUDI. The Bombay brigade was ready to jump onto it and wipe off easily any sort of 'other state' player from entering the team.
Team selection has always been a much debated affair in India and there’s more to it than meets the ordinary eye. After the 96 WC, Sourav was back in the team for the England tour. His detractors had written him off as a failure. Sourav and Dravid entered the team at approximately the same time. Wasted no time and scored back to back centuries in England. Critics were silenced but not to be undone they cried hoarse over his Achilles’ heel - the shorty aimed at the ribs. Who does not have one? Sachin is susceptible to the delivery 4 inches outside of stump which McGrath uses to keep Sachin at his mercy; Sir Don and his Larwood Bodyline fiasco is a well known affair, nobody keeps track of those. Everybody has limitations and how one plays with these known issues is what is to be seen and nothing else.
Thereafter much water has flown through the Thames and Sourav was dropped in Toronto for a couple of matches a move which cost Mr Patil his job apparently. Thereafter Sourav had the series of his lifetime next year in Toronto. Went on to handle Captaincy of the Team and did what no Indian caption hadn’t done till date - take the bull by its horns. Intimidating the mighty Aussie Steve Waugh in the home series in a series of verbal duel and winning the Eden Test and thereafter the series started this. It gave the cricket fraternity 2 brief but strong messages - Don’t mess with Ganguly and Aussies are not invincible. What followed next was a tour of down under when under Ganguly's captaincy the Aussies were at their knees at home since the days o the mighty WIndies of the 70s. Ganguly palyed well and built a team around himself which is the perfect blend of youth and experience and the set was really gelling and clicking well. Waving his T-shirt on the pavilion of the Lords made puritans snigger but that i the man, never bothered to mince words or show the world that Indians can do what the rest of the world can do.
Reaching the finals of the WC 2003 was a big event for the team. Bringing Srinath back to the team and make Dravid agree to keep in the matches were shrewd decisions which along with the tremendous knocks of Sachin led to the feat....
What happened next is a set of political upheavals and the powers that be announced a new coach who arrived with the sole intention of wrecking the existing team; by the time the intentions were clear to everybody the damage was done, Ganguly out of the team the players were shuffled around like a pack of cards and India had their worst WC outing in years.
Ganguly was written off and people were waiting for his press conference to declare his retirement. But as the saying goes, "Fighter Humesha jeet ta hai", as I write this Ganguly has scored back to back double centuries in the Pakistan series a century at Eden and a double century at Bangalore (his highest test score) and on the way to have his most successful year in terms of runs in TEST cricket.
I am not a great fan of dada, but am more for Ponting and Dravid but still
I salute you dada......
Everyday people
everyday shame
everyday promise
shot down in flames.
Everyday sunrise
another everyday story
rise from the ashes and blaze
of everyday glory
.....Anonymous
posted by shaun's world at
10:07 PM
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