Column

Memonics

Some years after he had earned cricketing immortality by clean bowling Bradman for a duck in his final innings, Eric Hollies was to write: “I don’t think Don saw it properly. He seemed to have tears in his eyes.” We have no word yet from Jason Krejza on what he thought Sourav Ganguly’s state of mind was when he took guard for his last innings, but it would be fair to say that the batsman must have been similarly overcome with emotion.

Cricketers, whichever country they come from, whatever their background and calibre, are sensitive souls at their core. Retiring from the sport after spending the better part of youth in its struggles, triumphs and tragedies can be overwhelming. In an oblique sort of way retirement is also a reminder of mortality, whatever the record or degree of greatness, and heightens the sense of loss. Out first ball! Heck, even Bradman got two!

Any further comparison with Bradman would, of course, be ludicrous and downright unfair to Ganguly. That removed, Ganguly stands every other scrutiny with distinction. He has been a terrific batsman, outstanding captain and in many ways, the man singly responsible for providing Indian cricket the self-belief and ambition to match Australia, the best team in the world, blow for blow over the past decade.

Indeed, his batting prowess has been obscured by his hugely successful captaincy. In the Indian context, take away Sunil Gavaskar, Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid, Viru Sehwag and Vijay Merchant — who would rate among the top 50 batsmen in cricket history — and Ganguly’s value purely as a batsman becomes telling.

For sheer number of runs scored, career average, Test hundreds et al, style and panache he emerges as a batsman from the topmost drawer. He can be clubbed with Gundappa Vishwanath, Mohammed Azharuddin, Mohinder Amarnath, Dilip Vengsarkar — to name just four, which is really a big deal. Add to that his fantastic record in this ODIs and this becomes great deal more. Consider then also his captaincy (remember he also took India to the World Cup final in 2003) and you know why Ganguly is a cult figure, no less.

It would be a travesty of fate if India fail to win this series and Ganguly’s dismissal in the second innings is seen as the turning point of the match. Given the circumstances preceding this series, nobody has had more to prove in these four Tests, nobody has tried harder. While some other batsmen may have scored more runs, it is Ganguly’s spirit and stellar contributions — especially at Mohali and in the first innings at Nagpur — which have put India in this advantageous position.

And what a compelling character he has been right through! He began with a hundred in his first innings, made a blob in his last. He deigned to strip his shirt off on the balcony of hallowed Lord’s. He kept the venerated Steve Waugh waiting for the toss on several occasions. He scrapped bitterly with Greg Chappell whom he had brought into Indian cricket. When everybody had written him off, he made one of the greatest comebacks in cricket history.

Given his penchant for the melodramatic, I dare say Gangulymight still have a role to play on the final day of this series. A great catch, perhaps, a couple of wickets with his slow medium pace perchance, to help India win the Test? But even if he doesn’t do any of these, who can dispute that he was a rare gift to Indian cricket?

How Ganguly will be viewed decades from now remains to be seen, but my position is clear: He was his own man, even more importantly he was also ours too.