In A Class Of HIS OWN....

I am a great admirer of saurav ganguly since his inception in international cricket. Never in my wildest dreams would I have thought that soon I will have to write a farewell letter to him. Alas! That’s the way life goes. It’s really unfair. “Loathe him for his faults or admire him for his talents, dada is bound to be missed”. His has been an eventful career of highs and lows despair and conquest. Sourav has scale peaks and found himself in bottom. . Nicknamed Bengal Tiger, Prince of Calcutta and also affectionately called Dada (elder brother in Bengali) by his team-mates and Lord Snooty by his opponents, he is an aggressive player on and off the field.. ). Rahul Dravid once commented, "On the off-side, first there is God, then there is Ganguly"

It has been a obligating journey for the man they call dada. Despite the issue of fitness tormented him, an indomitable spirit has been his greatest ally. That never say die attitude perhaps can only be seen in dada among entire cricket team. He learnt from time to time. He had many differences with the so called famous coach which made headlines. Importantly he returned after every fall like a phoenix rising from its own ashes. His resilient attitude is praise worthy. He is known for his timing and glorious stroke play on the OFF SIDE. And one arcanum about this versatile player is that he is a natural right-hander………yes…do you believe??
But converted to the southpaw stance at a young age so that he could use his left-handed brother Snehasish Ganguly's equipment

He made his One Day International debut against Australia in 1992 and a Test debut versus England in 1996. Ganguly is a left-handed batsman and a right-handed medium-pace bowler Ganguly is only the third cricketer ever to score a century on debut at Lord's, after Harry Graham and John Hampshire (Andrew Strauss has also since accomplished the feat. He scored 183 against Sri Lanka at Taunton in the 1999 Cricket World Cup, the highest by an Indian in World Cup cricket
He came, he saw and he conquered. Now he retires. He says he is retiring because it’s time. He says there is no external pressure. If he says, we will have to believe it……yes? No? May be?

Well, nothing is bounded to nothing, one fine day dada will be out of the clutches of BCCI. After he retires, he is a free man. He might come out and speak the truth that happened. Why he decided to quit. And that day will surely inflict pain in all of us. what happened to dada may be helpless, but never did any one hear a single word of regret from him. He is a born leader, petrified with time. Strength and resilience being his motives.
My heart is now greaved. I can’t bear to think of cricket with no dada. I can’t see him returning to the pavilion with a silent message that he won’t come back again. He was the most important part of cricket for me for long. And when he goes, cricket no longer exists.I wish to talk of the career of Ganguly. Anybody ever wondered as why it’s the most talked of career? Why is it going to be the part of cricketing history? Why is it called the golden period of Indian cricket? And why it fueled agression, strenth and leadership in team?

Ganguly peaked his career during 1996-2000 before he was made the captain. He was the best batsman of the Indian team then. He came into the team in a test hundred in the debut. He became the faster Indian to score 3000, 4000,……,9000. A series worth remembering is one against Pakistan which India clinched 4-1 victory.

And let me tell you , It was won single handedly by Ganguly. He took around 300 runs and 15 wickets and topped batting and bowling charts. He was the man of the match in all four games India won consecutively. He even now holds the record of most number of consecutive man of the matches. It’s just an example. There are many others too. The highest runs scored in a world cup match is his forte. Sri Lankans were the guys who had to withstand that slaughter. He scored 183 which helped India score a 371 which again helped India get the required run rate for entering the Super Six round.

Victory is always for the KING
Live like a king and die like king. Begging was not of his least style. He believed in cricket and for him cricket is religion. With captaincy his batting performance declined. But considering other players, his batting was still world class. And mind you it just declined when compared to his own previous records. “Many still think of what Ganguly’s batting scorecard would have been had he not been the captain.” But my interest were never on this. It was Ganguly as a captain that astounded me. It filled me with the emotional impact of overwhelming surprise After the 1999 world Cup Australia went on a win-only-series-of-series. They won each and every test they played. The teams who played against them were afraid. Australians were considered as the ultimate and undefeatable team. It’s in this spirit that Aussies came to India. They expected a similar tense Indian team. But Ganguly proved to be just the opposite. He made Steve Waugh feel some pressure. He never believed Aussies are undefeatable and took special care not to let Aussies feel any kind of superiority. This was a new experience for the Aussies and they succumbed to it, loosing the series 1-2. Ganguly also led India to a World Cup Final, himself scoring a century in the semi final. He took Indian team to Australia. India was stuttering after 3 early wickets with a huge score to overtake. Ganguly came to the middle and scored 144 which is considered as his best Test Innings. He finished only when India were with a comfortable lead. He is also the first Indian to score a century in Australia against Australia

Victory is for the Roaring Tiger
The rest of the story is about ups and downs, of misfortunes and comebacks. This is a story every single child in India and in all cricketing nation knows. So I am not going into that.
For India, Ganguly was the MIGHTY FORCE, JUGGERNAUT, WHICH IS UNSTOPPABLE. The FORCE that united them, that made them strong, that made them realise their own strength, and that led from front. YES, GANGULY IS RIGHTLY CALLED THE BEST CAPTAIN.
HATS OFF TO YOU, Southpaw Oh! GOD OF OFF SIDE.
IN YOU WE FOUND A NEW SPIRIT, AN URGE TO CONQUER, A ROAR TO DEFEAT. HOPE YOU CAN CONTINUE TO TO SHOWER IT AROUND TILL THE END. Because of you, Indians learnt agression, because of you Indians learnt the true captaincy and its you who taught us how to be play abroad. You are and will be inspiration for the rest. And you are bound to be missed.