........Ganguly to Criticize Him.........
So Ganguly failed yet again in the Ahmedabad one dayer which India lost yesterday to Pakistan. He made 18 runs and Sachin who was also out of form finally came back to form and made 123. And as usual while I was watching the match I heard people say Ganguly--isko nikal kyun nahi dete (Why don’t they leave out Ganguly). And then I saw the category on MS about the justification of removing Ganguly; Case for Yes or No. and I thought its time now for me to write about it. I am not going into the statistics of Ganguly since all of us know it. So I will only write about him and the others in the field.
Ganguly’s last century came against Kenya (If I remember right) way back in 2003. Since then he has getting out miserably with extremely low scores. All others have been performing and he isn’t. So should he dropped? NO is my answer.
Being a captain of the cricket team and that of too of a country where Cricket is worshipped like god is not an easy task. Ganguly has been by far the most successful captain of India. He hasn’t been performing well with the bat so what? Even the greats like Sachin and Dravid with whom he is compared now they also couldn’t perform well under the pressure of being the captain.
I still remember when Sachin was captaining the Indian team and Saeed Anwar scored that 194. I mean frankly speaking Sachin cannot be a performing captain. Every cricketer is entitled to play his own natural game and Sachin, under the captaincy pressure couldn’t play it. And at that time it was only Sachin who could win India matches. If he failed the team collapsed and that happened many times while he was the leader and hence the team lost most of the time. Moreover Sachin always remained cool as if taken for granted by the opposite team. Playing on-field requires aggression which Sachin could never show. Check out how Ricky Ponting is on field. Or the ex-Srilankan captain Arjuna Ranatunga. Remember how he made the team leave the field in Aus. when Daryl Hair called no-balls of Murlitharan.
Coming to Dravid, he is no doubt the future captain of Indian cricket but not right now. He doesn’t really have the experience of leading the team. A couple of bad decisions and the team suffers. The declaration of 194 of Sachin wasn’t justified. This is just an example I am not raising any controversies here. He has been doing well with the bat and placing the responsibility of being the captain will make another in-form batsman of the team under pressure.
Now coming to Ganguly. He failed in tests. Alright people thought he will comeback in One-Dayers. He has failed miserably in one-dayers. So now people are criticizing him like anything. But he needs motivation and not criticism. All have a rough patch. The only thing Ganguly’s rough patch has been extending for too long now. Sachin had the rough patch as Ganguly before that 123 in the last match. In fact Sachin has scored 13 runs in last few innings (before 123) and Ganguly had scored 12. So why don’t we drop Sachin and Ganguly both? Why only Ganguly?
Remember NO Indian Captain has been as aggressive as Ganguly. Those who think Ganguly is a minnow should remember the Natwest Trophy Final against England where we were in no position to win and after we won that Aggressive reaction of Ganguly of removing his T-shirt in England against England. Would Sachin have been able to do it? Would Dravid have been able to do it? In my opinion all Ganguly needs is motivation and nothing else. And the Indian public should give him that motivation and encourage him.
Now a 6 match ban has been imposed on him for the slow over rate in the last one-dayer. If he is suspended and Dravid takes over and wins the two matched. Then I guess Ganguly will loose his captainship which shouldn’t really happen. But Ganguly needs some rest and hence all happens for good.
This isn’t any rvu. It’s my opinion for Ganguly. He should remain IN.
Lastly He Will be Back.