Line & Length
R Mohan
Ganguly at centre of another storm
January 27, 2008
Sourav Chandi Ganguly. Now, that's a name that divides Indian cricket and ironically so since he was the captain who is said to have united Team India by picking players regardless of where they came from. In the twilight of his career, the batsman Ganguly finds himself at the centre of another selection storm.
In some ways, Ganguly is like Subash Chandra Bose. Hi name will always be in the news, whether he is in the team or not. Some years ago, there may have been genuine reasons for dropping him from the team. They have since evaporated because he showed a remarkable ability to stage a comeback and proved himself worthy of his cap.
Timing is a quality valued very highly in sport, especially in cricket, where a piece of wood propels a ball hurled at the batsman. Ganguly has lots of it as he demonstrates often in his batting, particularly through the offside where his strokes can be magical.
The selectors can never be praised for their sense of timing. Even if they possess the quality, it often deserts them. The skipper Anil Kumble has said publicly what he thought of the selection exercise undertaken hours after India won at Perth.
In their wild swings between picking a team for the future and for the here and now, the selectors make such crass errors of timing that they become the target of abuse of cricket fans. In Dilip Vengsarkar, whose heart is said to be as much in the pen as with being chairman of selectors, has someone who is a sort of activist in these matters.
Vengsarkar claims a vision of a future that encompasses the next World Cup that is to be held in 2011. Its good thinking to be able to plan this far ahead. As a selection principle, youth has much to commend itself for. Young players have the enthusiasm but to be effective in harnessing their game skills against the best team in the world in the high pressure atmosphere of sport down under is a different matter altogether.
Had the selectors timed their act of cleaning up Team India and getting it up and running towards the World Cup, they would have drawn a line beyond this tour of Australia . They could have experimented freely in the home series against South Africa and in every series thereafter.
India have never won a match in a tri-series final, leave alone beating Australia in the World Series that is played to the most punishing schedule imaginable. It would stand to reason then that the best chance to create history would have been represented by the kind of blend of youth and experiences the Test team is.
When it comes to standing up to Australia in the one-day arena, a task considerably more difficult than the arduous enough task of playing it in the more leisurely Test match cricket, game skills are as vital as exuberance. There is always the chance that when batsmen like Ganguly and Laxman hit top form, they are more capable than many of stretching Australia's ODI expertise.
The report of the fitness trainer and the medical team would no doubt have had a bearing on the Ganguly exclusion as much as the captain and vice-captain's preferences. Dhoni has come out well in defence of the selection principle that has thrust youth, especially in the light of such a team's performance in the T-20 world championship, although that has not stopped the Ganguly loyalists from slamming everyone in Indian cricket.
The fact that the timing of the announcement was terrible may also have added zing to the annual effigy burning demos condemning the treatment Ganguly, who as a batsman who averages 44 after coming back to the one-day arena is not be sneered at, gets at the hands of insensitive selectors.
In the midst of a tense Test series that also involved the Sydney fracas involving issues of racism and triumphalism, the selection exercise seemed most ill-timed. The potential to divide was far greater than all the firefighting done later in the name of nationalism on the eve of a pivotal Test match by winning which India can score heavily on cricket's Richter scale. For three batsmen in India's middle order to be told they are not wanted in the one-day scheme of things was in a way insulting. Had the decision been made and announced soon after India lost the Sydney Test and with it the chances of regaining the Border-Gavaskar trophy, no one would have said a thing. To disrupt the preparation psyche of key men ahead of the final Test was a needless imposition.
India's senior players, including Sachin Tendulkar, are a precious lot. They have to be treated with the utmost sensitivity, which means they must be taken into confidence when it comes to decisions being made with regard to their careers. The Prince of Kolkata too has had to contend with the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune.
Republished with permission from The Asian Age
In some ways, Ganguly is like Subash Chandra Bose. Hi name will always be in the news, whether he is in the team or not. Some years ago, there may have been genuine reasons for dropping him from the team. They have since evaporated because he showed a remarkable ability to stage a comeback and proved himself worthy of his cap.
Timing is a quality valued very highly in sport, especially in cricket, where a piece of wood propels a ball hurled at the batsman. Ganguly has lots of it as he demonstrates often in his batting, particularly through the offside where his strokes can be magical.
The selectors can never be praised for their sense of timing. Even if they possess the quality, it often deserts them. The skipper Anil Kumble has said publicly what he thought of the selection exercise undertaken hours after India won at Perth.
In their wild swings between picking a team for the future and for the here and now, the selectors make such crass errors of timing that they become the target of abuse of cricket fans. In Dilip Vengsarkar, whose heart is said to be as much in the pen as with being chairman of selectors, has someone who is a sort of activist in these matters.
Vengsarkar claims a vision of a future that encompasses the next World Cup that is to be held in 2011. Its good thinking to be able to plan this far ahead. As a selection principle, youth has much to commend itself for. Young players have the enthusiasm but to be effective in harnessing their game skills against the best team in the world in the high pressure atmosphere of sport down under is a different matter altogether.
Had the selectors timed their act of cleaning up Team India and getting it up and running towards the World Cup, they would have drawn a line beyond this tour of Australia . They could have experimented freely in the home series against South Africa and in every series thereafter.
India have never won a match in a tri-series final, leave alone beating Australia in the World Series that is played to the most punishing schedule imaginable. It would stand to reason then that the best chance to create history would have been represented by the kind of blend of youth and experiences the Test team is.
When it comes to standing up to Australia in the one-day arena, a task considerably more difficult than the arduous enough task of playing it in the more leisurely Test match cricket, game skills are as vital as exuberance. There is always the chance that when batsmen like Ganguly and Laxman hit top form, they are more capable than many of stretching Australia's ODI expertise.
The report of the fitness trainer and the medical team would no doubt have had a bearing on the Ganguly exclusion as much as the captain and vice-captain's preferences. Dhoni has come out well in defence of the selection principle that has thrust youth, especially in the light of such a team's performance in the T-20 world championship, although that has not stopped the Ganguly loyalists from slamming everyone in Indian cricket.
The fact that the timing of the announcement was terrible may also have added zing to the annual effigy burning demos condemning the treatment Ganguly, who as a batsman who averages 44 after coming back to the one-day arena is not be sneered at, gets at the hands of insensitive selectors.
In the midst of a tense Test series that also involved the Sydney fracas involving issues of racism and triumphalism, the selection exercise seemed most ill-timed. The potential to divide was far greater than all the firefighting done later in the name of nationalism on the eve of a pivotal Test match by winning which India can score heavily on cricket's Richter scale. For three batsmen in India's middle order to be told they are not wanted in the one-day scheme of things was in a way insulting. Had the decision been made and announced soon after India lost the Sydney Test and with it the chances of regaining the Border-Gavaskar trophy, no one would have said a thing. To disrupt the preparation psyche of key men ahead of the final Test was a needless imposition.
India's senior players, including Sachin Tendulkar, are a precious lot. They have to be treated with the utmost sensitivity, which means they must be taken into confidence when it comes to decisions being made with regard to their careers. The Prince of Kolkata too has had to contend with the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune.
Republished with permission from The Asian Age
