The Born Fighter - Sourav Ganguly!! Saluting A Legend!!

And the era of one of the greatest batsmen in history has come to an end. Dada has announced his retirement from cricket. Sourav Ganguly is one rare of a kind who dares to call a spade a spade. He was perhaps the first Indian captain to instill the self belief that they have in them to become invincible. After WC winning Kapil Dev and to an extent Azharuddin, India lacked that leader who can motivate his players on and off the field. India was experiencing a turbulent period where they ended on the losing side even to the less fancied teams. Even the greatest batsman Sachin Tendulkar could not tilt the tide in favor of India. After the maestro relinquishing the captaincy, the onus fell on “Dada”.

The captaincy was not given to him on a platter. It was a period when India had been rocked by match fixing scandals and when Azhar and Jadeja had their ignominious exits. Also Javagal Srinath, Venkatesh Prasad and Robin Singh had retired and the situation was too horrible to comprehend. Sourav did not get bogged down by these and he handled the situation with such an ease and grace that is rarely seen of a new captain. Perhaps, Graeme Smith was the next such skipper. The most striking feature of Sourav’s captaincy was the fact that he relished his role. The Bengal Tiger had that realistic zeal in himself to prove and succeed on the big stage. He must be credited with discovering and harneesing the talent out of the younger breeds the likes of whom are Sehwag, Zaheer, Yuvraj, Kaif, Harbhajan and even the current sensation Dhoni.

Sourav can always be proud of the fact that he formed an entire team that was only slightly short of INVINCIBLE. It can be proven from the fact that we are the only team to have given the Aussies a run for their money and reputation both at home and abroad. This is a fact none can take away from him. The fact that he led India in most number of Test matches and inevitably the most number of team wins clearly tell the indomitable will he possessed. The daredevilry, aggressiveness and speaking-truth-in-front-of their-faces attitude attracted both admirers and critics. He made sure neither success went to his head nor failure into his heart. These traits clearly are an indicator of his supreme levels of success he had during his tenure as a captain.

Now coming to his breathtaking display of attacking batting, it is not often we see a batsman accumulate 18000 runs. And he is only the third to have 10000 runs,100 wickets and 100 catches in his kitty after Sachin and Sanath. Very few people have achieved this feat and I really salute the great warrior. When coming to his batting, what everyone remembers is his flamboyant drives through the off side. That’s why he is perfectly christened as “The God of Off-Side”. By the way who could forget the huge hammerings he gave by dancing down the track to almost all the bowlers he faced. At any moment it was sheer pleasure for the spectator. He has not spared even a single spinner I guess. His sixes of Muttiah Muralitharan, Shane Warne and Saqlain Mushtaq were so fascinating to watch. Though some critics say that he has a weakness in facing short balls, he compensated more for that with his elegant short selection. As I said, the statistics speak volumes of his achievements. And who could forget the terrific opening partnerships he had with Sachin. They gave nightmares to every bowling attack in the world.

Whatever he has done to the cricketing fraternity will be remembered forever. I feel that if Sourav had played for any other country, probably, he would have been the greatest sport star of that country. Unfortunately we had Sachin Tendulkar here. I am in no way underestimating Sourav’s caliber. I would say he and Dravid definitely missed out some more accolades that they so richly deserved. But that always happens in life. To have watched such a terrific trio in action was definitely fantastic. Ganguly leaves behind a huge void that definitely will take some time to be filled. Though there are some promising youngsters in sight, we cannot fill up a “Ganguly” spot for sure so easily.

The air of charisma that Ganguly has carried with him and the respect he has commanded from teammates and oppositions alike are something which must be tried to be emulated by any aspiring cricketer. It really pains me to think of cricket where I can no longer see those cover drives and sixes. His strategic field positions, his aggression on the field and composure off it, his emotional strength are something everyone will miss. Because there are not many who have become the second highest scorer after making a comeback. He was the second highest run scorer in the world after Jacques Kallis and the leading scorer for India in 2007. That was what I said about emotional strength. It is the perfect COMEBACK, something we have not witnessed in any sport excepting the legendary Lance Armstrong. And for his stature he definitely deserved a fiiting farewell.. Those standing ovations, those tears and those hugs from his teammates.. He richly deserved everything of those.. As I type these sentences my eyes turn moist.. Thats what Ganguly has been to us.. A Hero in every sense.. And Ganguly has chosen the perfect occasion, though I think its at least a year early.. But no one knows Ganguly better than himself.

And I hope these eyes will also turn moist when Sachin,Dravid and Kumble retire.. But Dada will always be special for he is the first to exit the cricketing scene gracefully!!

So it really pains me to miss those special Dada moments….

Those nail bites on the field...
Those shirt take offs…
Those blinking eyes while batting.
Those elegant shots.
Those aggressive captaincy..
Those encouragement to youngsters.
Those “Never Give Up” spirits.
Those infectious celebrations after taking a wicket or a victory.

Everything I will miss...

Dada, You will remain in our hearts forever..

Let the Maharajah Of Cricket have a peaceful retired life and let his invaluable services to Indian cricket continue forever and ever..

Love U Dada..

U people have been part of my lives!

And u ll remain so!!

Vignesh..