Ganguly Dropped – An Audacious Selection
January 23, 2008 by Open Article Submission
Filed under News
God save Indian cricket! The country’s most popular sport is once again in turmoil. And once again at the center of it all is team India’s ex-captain, Saurav Chandidas Ganguly. Two years back, India’s the then coach Greg Chappell shocked the cricket loving fans of India by plotting the ouster of Saurav Ganguly – first from the team captain’s hot seat and then from the team itself! Saurav’s ouster from the team became a national issue and the matter was discussed and debated from the street to the state assembly and even to the parliament. There after remaining in the cold for about a year, the Bengal tiger, as “dada” Saurav is admiringly addressed, staged a glorious comeback scoring heavily for the Indian team in international cricket. Since his great comeback in the national team a year ago, Ganguly has been the mainstay of the team’s batting. But just when everything seems to be very rosy and glorious for Ganguly, he found his world crashing. Apparently for no fault of his, the calcuttan has once again been side lined for the coming triangular series and one 20-20 match against the host.
In the year just passed away [2007] Ganguly was the most prolific scorer for India in test cricket scoring 1023 runs. Only Jacques kallis of South Africa scored more test runs then Saurav did. In one-day cricket also during this period Saurav was not far behind. Hear again, he was second only to Sachin Tendulkar and his kitty had 1240 runs from 32 one-dayers and that included 12 half-centuries.
The selectors axe fell on Rahul Dravid and V.V.S. Laxman too, the two other batting mainstays of team India. Reasons put foreword for Ganguly’s exclusion are:
(a) He is a poor fielder and dose not match the athleticism of the younger players of the team.
(b) He is a poor runner between the wickets.
(c) His throwing is also very poor which can put the team in trouble in the bigger cricket fields of Australia.
All these excuses are very flimsy and hold no water. It is an established fact that fielding has never been a strong point for the Bengal tiger. But team India and Ganguly himself have had coped up very well with all these weak points all these 10 – 12 years. It is also an established fact that despite all the poor fielding, poor running between the wickets and poor throwing ability, Ganguly has been the key figure in Indian’s many a great win. Despite his poor running between the wickets, he is one of the few batsmen who have scored more than 10,000 runs in one-day cricket. Obviously he compensates his weakness in taking quick singles by whacking the cherry beyond the ropes! With all his disabilities Ganguly proved himself to be the best Indian batsman in the first two tests of the current series. It is only in the third test at Perth where he failed miserably. Have the selection committee and the same Indian cricket control board forgotten that it was they themselves who has sent Ganguly to Australia in the past also and last time as a captain! Thus the Indian selectors have only made an ass of themselves in trying to justify their decision to exclude Saurav Ganguly from the coming triangular series.
Along with Ganguly, Dravid and Laxman have also scored runs in the current indo-Australian test series. Although Dravid and Laxman were already dropped from the one day squad before, currently they are in fine nick and very much deserved a place in the playing 11, they have been much to the glee of the aussies and the Sri Lankan – the two other teams of the coming triangular series. Their age factor has been quoted as the reason for their ouster from the one-day team.
Much of the blame for the non-selection of the three senior players and mainly that of Saurav Ganguly has been laid at Mahandra Singh Dhoni’s door, the captain of the one-day and 20-20 team. The selection committee chairman Dilip Vengsarkar, it is reported declared the team after tele conferencing with Dhoni and two selectors present in Australia now. Dhoni and the selectors in no way could club Dravid and Laxman with Saurav in so far as fielding weaknesses and running between wickets problems were concerned. So they very conveniently floated the excuse of age. The captain has reportedly told Vengsarkar that he wanted “young legs” for the limited version of the game and surprisingly enough Vengsarkar, a veteran cricketer himself in his days, gleefully obliged Dhoni by hounding out 3 of the 5 seniors of the current test team. Of the other two seniors in the team, Kumble has already said goodbye to the limited over cricket, while no one in the team or in BCCI has the guts to touch Sachin Tendulkar. By the way, Sachin is also in fine batting form in down under. So, there should not be any reason to cry for his blood.
It appears that the third test victory at Perth has emboldened Dhoni and the BCCI to take such an over zealous but a foolish and lopsided step. Obviously beating the world champions in their own backyard and that too on the world’s fastest wicket at Perth is no mean achievement. India has every reason to be proud of this great victory for more than one reason. This rare victory at Perth first by any sub continental team forced even the sneering and snobbish Australians to heap praise on Kumble’s boys. Some of them even went on to declare that this Indian team should be considered as the greatest threat to Australia’s supremacy in test cricket. But all this acclaim dose not actually made us world champions over night. We should not be carried away too much by the all round praise that is being heaped on the Indian team. But unfortunately it appears that this victory along with out success with the world twenty-20 championship last year has actually gone into the head of Mahandra Singh dhoni, Indian team’s captain for the shorter versions of the game. According to sources it was on Dhoni’s insistence and team’s trainer Gregory kings reports, players like Ganguly and Dravid were sidelined. Chief selector Dilip Vengsarkar, it is reported that, was in favor of Ganguly’s inclusion for his tremendous form. But strongly enough he too ultimately submitted to the captains and vice-captain Yuvraj Singh’s common wish. Reports say that dhoni even went on to declare that he would not be responsible if the team loses or fares badly after players like Saurav or Rahul were included!
While this, if at all true, might appear to many to be the audacity on the part of a player – captain, there is another side to it too. If dhoni and yuvi have aired their views on the senior players of the team, who have ones been their mentor’s too, from no personal bias, it goes on to show their zeal and their burning desire to do well and win. It may be argued at the same time that if the captain decides the team, then what is the use of the selectors at all? Why spend so much money and precious time over a farce called “selection”? Won’t the board saved a lot of money, time and tension by announcing the name of the captain and vice captain only and leave it to these to guys to select the 14 other players whom they consider to be the most capable to be in the team? This might also save the selectors and the board from facing the harsh criticism arising out of the selection of some non-performing players.
All said and done, one thing is clear that if the Indian team dose well in the coming triangular series, dhoni will be hailed once again as a hero, other wise, he will become a “villain” in the eyes of most of his ardent fans too. One more thing, this practice of declaring the team for the next series in the midst of an ongoing series is very harsh on players who are dropped from the next series but are supposed to play in the ongoing series. Consequently, after this setback will Ganguly, Dravid and Laxman be able to concentrate and perform in the next test match at Adelaide? If they can, it will be great of them.
Author: Subhash Dey
copyright: openarticlesubmission.com
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