The public spat that happened between Sourav ’’Maharaj’’ Ganguly and Greg ’’Perfectionist’’ Chappell has disrupted peaceful waters of the dressing room. Ganguly washed dirty linen in public and hungry media has had a tasty meal of it. This who saga has been swept under the carpet but Indian Cricket and the ardent FAN have been the losers.
I, for one, strongly believe that Sourav has to move out and provide more opportunity for youngsters to bolster the Indian middle order.
I put forth 3 reasons why I feel that Ganguly should step aside and let TEAM INDIA progress.
1. Ganguly’s primary job is not captaincy but batting:
Sourav Ganguly announced his arrival in test match cricket with a bang. Two consecutive centuries at Lords and Nottingham filled with scorching drives through a packed off-side field and gentle pushes and nudges on the leg-side. No bowler dared to even err a hairline to Sourav which sparked a famous remark from Rahul Dravid, ’’After God there is Sourav on the offside’’.
But Sourav’s record (shown as below, Courtesy: Cricinfo.com) depicts that his batting form has dipped rapidly. This indicates that he has been a liability rather than leading from example which has been the case for other teams including Bangladesh and Zimbabwe.
Career : 84 matches, 5066 runs at 41.18, 12 centuries, 25 half centuries.
As a player : 35 matches, 2505 runs at 45.54, 7 centuries, 12 half centuries.
As captain : 49 matches, 2561 runs at 37.66, 5 centuries, 13 half centuries.
from Aus’04 : 11 matches, 480 runs at 34.28, 1 century, 3 half centuries.
On comparison, here are the statistics of some other captains for their last 11 matches with whom Ganguly rates himself.
Ponting : 1055 runs at 65.93 with 3 centuries and 4 half centuries.
Inzamam : 1046 runs at 61.52 with 4 centuries and 5 half centuries.
GC Smith : 936 runs at 55.05 with 4 centuries and 4 half centuries.
Fleming : 715 runs at 42.05 with 1 century and 5 half centuries.
2. (Lack of) Fitness, Fielding and Fragile -> Fickleness -> Failures
Sourav’s fitness levels are so low that in many matches we’ve seen him frequently asking for drinks. Hot humid days are even worse.
On the field, Sourav has always been the most committed cricketer to chase the ball to the boundary. Invariably he escorts the ball as much as possible, then pick it up and lazily throw it back by the time which the opponents would have even run 4 or 5.
Running between the wickets has neven been his forte. Sourav’s partners should be praying their favourite gods always. Sourav would invariably be at the receiving end when he partners Sachin. A glare or a shout would always be on the cards.
Sourav is the most fragile top-order batsman to fiery spells. All batsman have potential weakness but they constantly work on it to overcome. Sachin and Dravid have been caught at short-midwicket flicking in the air on many occasions, but they’ve worked hard to come over that. Sourav has worked hard to find different ways to get out to fast bowlers.
These ’’features’’ have instilled a lot of fickleness in Sourav’s mind that he feels he is being scanned for each activity he does. He does not have to stand-out like Rhodes or Yuvraj or Kaif, but can atleast try to show better commitment. How can’t he learn these by seeing Sachin or Dravid? Sourav has not been able to concentrate on any happenings on the field and hence has been punished repeatedly for slow over-rates. This has also caught up with some of the younger players which is one reason why the team is failing miserably.
3. ’’Laid-back’’ is not the keyword
Sourav Ganguly can be remembered as the one who turned a bunch of talented individuals into a winning team. The confidence he instilled on youngsters breaking the regional barriers that had suffocated Indian cricket paid rich dividends. The bunch of talented players like Sehwag, Gambhir, Yuvraj, Kaif, Dinesh Kaarthick, Harbhajan, Zaheer, Nehra, Pathan, Balaji have all had his backing and are now proving their mettle. Their fearless attitude has helped TEAM INDIA to stand up and face any opposition. It also took them to the brink of World Cup glory in 2003.
Sourav himself has let this motto down by stepping aside of the competitions at the last moment, in Pakistan ’04, Nagpur ’04 to name a few in the recent past. He has been at his lethargic best for quite sometime under John Wright who is such a gentle cricketer to raise alarms. Greg Chappell is here with a vision for the game and a mission to accomplish. He is a no-nonsense, straight-forward, hard skinned Aussie to let Sourav rule (and ruin) the blokes.
Conclusion:
One of the greatest middle-order bats of Indian history has become such a clown that there are enumerable mails that float across the internet that ridicule him. I believe that Sourav should step down from captaincy, hand it over to Rahul Dravid, get back to the basics and perform to earn a place in team. The next couple of months are acid test to this man’s mental make-up.
George Bernard Shaw once quoted, ’’Cricket is a game played by 11 flannelled fools and watched by 11, 000 fools’’. This statement can be tweaked as ’’Indian Cricket is a political game played by 11 administrators who make 110, 000, 000 watchers fools’’.
Do remember, NO ONE IS BIGGER THAN THE GAME but for these 11 people.