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ShareThis article ain't about Mick Jagger. If you have been seduced by the headline, my apologies. But as an inveterate cricket lover the most famous Rolling Stone would understand why I have used this metaphor in discussing Sourav Ganguly, and by extension, the other senior players in the Indian team currently under harsh public scrutiny.
Sports stars (in India, cricketers more than any other) in any case enjoy rock star status in the arena of life, so the analogy is not entirely misplaced. Both species are performing artistes who bring into play the vitality and vivacity of human existence. They are endowed with skills, attributes and energy that the vast majority of us obviously lack, which is why they are venerated, idolised and become larger than life.
Both (should) earn extraordinary sums of money, but they are also victims of a sense of great insecurity, not the least because good health is so crucial to their success.
Moreover, there is a certain amount of vanity and egotism that drives them to success which not everybody understands or appreciates. Many of them lead lives that can best be termed extraordinary.
Indeed, there are umpteen similarities, but there is one major difference: time runs out on sportspersons much quicker.
Many rock musicians (as with all artists) actually mature with the passage of time, get better: as indeed many Jagger fans will insist. The learning curve need never flatten, and skills can be enhanced infinitely. They can reinvent themselves several times over in one lifetime in the same profession.
But there is a certain romance attached to singers and musicians even when their vocal chords or other skills may have fatigued. Nostalgia facilitates their acceptance even when they are past their best because we see in this decline our own ageing process.
For the professional sportsperson, however, life can be cruel. Success on the field of play is time-bound, and when the skills start fading, so does their perceived value. They have a sell-by date which is so ambiguous that they themselves are not sure when this has arrived. It is then that they are caught in the maelstrom of self-doubt and the whims and fancies of critics, selectors and even the public, as Ganguly will be experiencing every day now.
The former India captain's selection for the first two Tests against Australia has been so widely debated, contested, applauded, criticised that I will desist from going into the whys and wherefores of his selection here. But an analysis of how 'age' has impacted cricket throws up some interesting facts.
For instance, using forty as the benchmark, we find that there have been 102 players who have played a Test match at this age. Five of these were Indians -- Vijay Merchant, C K Nayudu, C Ramaswami, RJ Jamshedji and Vinoo Mankad (who was 41 years, 305 days when he played against the West Indies at Delhi in 1959).
The oldest player ever was Wilfred Rhodes, who was 52 years and 165 days when he played against the West Indies in 1930. While the last over-40 to have played a Test was England's Alec Stewart in September 2003 (against South Africa), it is significant to note that 78 of these 102 played before 1960, which many historians reckon is the year when the 'modern' game is reckoned to have begun.
The American actor Robin Williams once remarked that "cricket is basically baseball on valium,'', but that obviously subscribed to the older ethos, where even timeless tests existed and meaningless draws were more the norm than the exception. The game has gotten progressively faster, demanding fitter players. What is the right age to quit, of course, remains an issue that is as fascinating as it is contentious, but approaching 40 -- as records suggests -- the warning bells should be ringing clearly and loudly.
That said, Ganguly is still only 35 and some way off from being in this 'danger' zone. Indeed, there are several cricketers who have excelled when in their mid and late 30s. So, can he still rock and roll, er, hook and pull with the same aplomb as he did a few years ago? The next couple of weeks promise to be heady.
Email: ayaz@dnaindia.net
