As a newcomer to this neat portal, I bumped onto the topic, which is perhaps still the talk of the country and Indians if not others- Sourav Ganguly!
I am neither a statistician nor a cricket historian. But then I just don’t watch (Indian) cricket for the sake of watching it either. I do like to keep a track at the macro level on how the sport in India is faring and how the concerned people are going about it.
So in this review, please don’t expect me to include numbers and figures to justify my comments- I am just presenting my observations as a common man!
I am rather sad to observe that the Indian media being so very biased and well lets face it – negative towards Sourav Ganguly- the captain. Perhaps it has become more of a fashion statement to now and then come up with something criticizing Sourav- either his form or his physical abilities or the way he spoke at some interview or anything for that matter.
I have often wondered media reporters who look visibly uninformed about cricket in general leave alone players and Sourav Ganguly spicing up programs for the sake of their mileage and the channels recognition.
My question is isn’t the media supposed to be fair and independent rather than drive public opinion about a person? At the end of the day, you are making the captain a guinea pig or a scapegoat, which is definitely not fair.
And to add to the question- how fair are the ex-players in commenting so negative about him? Should we really heed them? What extraordinary have they done in their playing days that we should heed them? Are they all talk then?
I really would not want to dig into what Sourav Ganguly has achieved for the Indian cricket team since the time he was appointed as the captain when the Indian team was in ruts, to recognizing young talent, to developing a team spirit and unity free from regionalisms and finally embedding a sense of aggression and patriotism which were so very much lacking in the yesteryears.
So, is it really fair? At the age of 33, I think he definitely has some cricket left so to come up with statement that he may not be fine for the world cup is rather hard to digest.
I will admit that I am fiercely patriotic but then even coming from a neutral frame of mind; I personally don’t feel that Greg Chappel is the right choice as the coach of the Indian cricket team. Can you really trust the man whom only we have seen with a loud mouth and offering a friendly hand over pool to Sourav Ganguly and sending a complaining email to the BCCI silently? With suppressed dissatisfaction and fear generated among the players like Harbhajan and gang, are we really look for clinching the World Cup?
I personally don’t see it happening and more not so without Sourav Ganguly as the captain of the Indian team.