The Prince of Kolkata bids adieu

Mere words are not enough to convey what Sourav Chandidas Ganguly meant for Indian cricket and Indian cricket fans, in particular. One has to recall fond memories of instances which one has been fortunate enough to witness over the years, courtesy live television coverage. These instances tell the story of a man who took Indian cricket from the depths of the match-fixing saga to a stage where fans began expecting Indian teams to win atleast a Test or two, if not the series, each time they travelled abroad.

It is said that under Tiger Pataudi, Indian teams learnt how to win. If that is true, and it sure is, under Ganguly, Indian teams learnt how to win abroad. Earlier, especially during the horror phase of the 90s when Indian teams were like 'tigers at home and lambs abroad', fans were left clutching at the proverbial straw when it came to overseas performances. As has been the bane of Indian cricket, one was left to marvel at sporadic individual moments of brilliance while the team as a whole, almost inevitably, crumbled in a heap. I recall during the 1996-97 tour to South Africa at Cape Town, Sachin Tendulkar and Mohammed Azharuddin put up a breathtaking display of attacking batsmanship against genuinely quick bowling by Allan Donald and Shaun Pollock. I particularly remember Azhar hitting Lance Klusener for five boundaries in an over. He had earlier walked in with the score reading 58-5. It was also the tour on which India were shot out for a combined total of 166 in two innings, at Durban, lasting all of 73.2 overs in the match. During those days Indian performances overseas vacillated between generally mediocre and fleetingly brilliant.

Fast forward to the fifth day of the Adelaide Test against Australia, in 2003-04. India were minutes away from a historic win against the world champions in their own backyard. Rahul Dravid, the pillar of the Indian batting in those days, was at the crease. The camera panned towards the path leading from the pavilion to the ground. And the scene that I witnessed will forever remain with me. A supremely confident Sourav Ganguly stood near the boundary gate, calmly signing autographs, patiently waiting for the moment to arrive. As Rahul cut Stuart MacGill to the point boundary to signal India's victory, Dada walked out on to the ground, the king proudly waiting to receive his knight-in-shining-armour as he headed back with the spoils of victory. It was Sourav himself who had earlier shown the way, with an authoritative 144 in the first Test at Brisbane.

The seeds of this renaissance had been sown during the tumultous series against the Australians in 2000-01. As India almost made a mess chasing the smallish target on the fifth day of the deciding Test at Chennai, Ganguly sat in the pavilion with tension so palpable on his face, you almost felt for him. As Harbhajan Singh hit the winning runs, he jumped up, raised his arms in victory and then rushed straight into the brotherly embrace of Rahul Dravid. He was so overcome with emotion that Rahul held Sourav's head close to his chest, slowly patting it, trying to calm him down.

The man was emotional to the core, all right. But he was a also a shrewd handler of men. As he used to say, "Captaincy is all about man management". And he backed his guys to the hilt, going to the extremes to protect them from the powers-that-be, the first Indian captain to genuinely do so, after perhaps Tiger Pataudi. Like Tiger, Dada's aristocrat background seemed to lift him from the need to pander to the regional and parochial mentalities of Indian cricket administrators and players. Punjab man Harbhajan Singh would have never played for India after being thrown out of the National Cricket Academy, but for Dada. Ganguly saw the boy was a special talent, and fought for his inclusion against the visiting Australians in 2000-01. The rest, as they say, is history. The core players of the current Indian team were discovered, nurtured and developed under Dada. Harbhajan apart, Zaheer, Yuvraj, Sehwag, Dhoni are in a sense, all Dada's boys. Under him, the Indian team developed a sense of purpose, a refusal to bow down meekly as was typical of Indian teams of the 90s.

It is fair to say that as a batsman, he more or less did justice to his enormous potential, especially in the limited overs format, where he surely is one of the greatest ever. In Tests, apart from the phase during his captaincy, he did very well. And whatever is said about his weakness against the short ball, scoring more than 7,000 Test runs is not a joke. Very few batsmen from the sub-continent are genuinely comfortable facing the fast short-pitched delivery.

Nowadays, my mother makes an interesting point each time the media goes berserk after an Indian overseas win. First ever series win in Pakistan in 2004. First ever Test win in South Africa in 2006. First Test win in Australia in 22 years at Adelaide in 2003. She says each time these guys win abroad, it is hailed as a historic win. Didn't we use to win anything earlier? And then, with a wistful smile, she answers her own question. No. Hailing from Bengal herself, she then says what every Indian cricket lover must be saying in his heart, "Dada, amake chode jaao na". Take a final bow, Sourav Chandidas Ganguly. You were the architect of a new era that does not know the meaning of the word 'fear'.