Ganguly s selection has been a national debate and every Tom, Dick, Harry has chipped in with his version of views and expressions on the elegant southpaw’s continued career. Media has virtually being running a electoral campaign to chip him out of the reckoning citing various reasons such as :
1. An under the table deal which allows him to play for 2 Tests and then hang his boots.
2. VRS Scheme, which cricketing world has never heard of
3. Horses for courses which is Indian parliament’s patent and super specialty.
4. The usual theory that team management doesn’t need him in the team.
Goddamn, give me a break man. Here is what few other print media publications got to say about the most successful Indian captain ever on his selection in the team :
Deccan Herald quotes the need for grooming the youngsters at a relaxed pace and with a “definite plan” :
“Over the next few months, the decision to blood younger batsmen must be implemented. It has to be a gradual process, for the less experienced ones will need the comforting presence of long-standing bulwarks to break themselves in at the Test match level. It will be in the best interests of Indian cricket if the seniors are taken into confidence and thanked for their contributions while politely being told of the need to start the rebuilding process so that Indian cricket doesn’t flounder when these men of substance call it quits of their own volition.”
The subtle and balanced S Dinkar in The Hindu quotes that Ganguly has lived on further and elongated his engrossed career by at least 2 Test matches. He also reproduces the stats in last 2 years which put Ganguly on top of the Test table followed by Tendulkar.
“In all fairness to Ganguly, he played a series-leveling knock, a priceless 87, on a turning track at Kanpur against the South Africans this year. That, incidentally, was India’s last home Test. Subsequently, he failed against a potent spin combination in Sri Lanka. So did the others. There was a distinct belief that Ganguly was being singled out. Reflexes don’t dull overnight. In a startling piece of statistics, Ganguly has scored more runs than any other Indian batsman since his famous comeback at the Wanderers against South Africa in the 2006-07 season. During the period, Ganguly has made 1667 runs in 21 Tests at 45.05. The next highest is Sachin Tendulkar with 1408 runs.
Ganguly has scored runs at home, coped well with the bounce and seam movement in South Africa, and the swing in England. He was comparatively less successful in Australia, yet there were combative half-centuries from his blade in Sydney and Melbourne. Apart from his ability in the middle-order as a strokeful left-handed batsman who can disrupt the rhythm of an attack, Ganguly brings with him aggression and combative instinct. The Aussies know him well. He has worked on his stance that is more upright and balanced and has, consequently, tightened his game against the pacemen. “
Ganguly returns to Bangalore where he scored 239 and 91 against Pakistan late last year. Didn’t he ?Ayaz Menon welcomes this decision as logical one but yet as confusing. He doesn’t welcome Ganguly in same tone as he did for Dravid.
What would be the usefulness of such a deal if, say, Ganguly were to score 600 runs in the four Tests? Would he still be asked to quit? And what if he scores a pair in the first Test? Would he be still be played in the second? It is not bad thinking to give somebody a ceremonious send-off when he has planned his departure, but when the player himself seems convinced that he has enough cricket left in him for a few years more, this becomes downright demeaning. He should then be treated on form, like everybody else. Of course, it is also true that there are no clear claimants to Ganguly’s place. The proper recourse would be to phase out the seniors rather than lose all of them at the same time. This would leave a gaping hole in the team as happened when Lillee, Marsh and Chappell quit the Australian team in 1984 and when Greenidge, Haynes, Garner and Richards left in quick succession sending the West Indies into quick decline. But the fact remains that there have been no middle order batsmen since Tendulkar, Dravid, Laxman and Ganguly to have performed with the consistency which earns automatic favor from the selectors. This is a reflection on the impoverishment of the cash-rich Indian cricket. If only the establishment could understand this irony.
He is correct.Known to be a staunch Ganguly critic Jayaditya Gupta in cricinfo quotes this :
“It is also a mixed message on the overall selection policy. Is it targeted towards youth, as the previous panel indicated? An open, transparent media interaction with Srikanth could also have helped dispel the growing speculation that Ganguly's inclusion was part of a "deal", an exit package. A Test series is not the place to make "VRS deals". You do not compromise the selection process, and thereby the most important series for India, because you want someone to "retire gracefully". Of the so-called Fab Four middle-order batsmen, Ganguly's case is the weakest. In the last Test series, against Sri Lanka, VVS Laxman scored the most runs among the four, followed by Rahul Dravid and Ganguly. The three rank in the same order on runs scored in Tests played since January 1.
The difference is accentuated by the add-ons. Ganguly is not a close-in fielder; he has to be hidden on the field and can be an embarrassment in the outfield. Dravid and Laxman are both excellent slip catchers; the first is statistically India's finest slip fielder ever (and closing in on the world record), the second has been in exceptional form of late. He has not threatened, since that epochal double-century in Bangalore last year, to build on the starts; rarely did those half-centuries, except a gem on a Kanpur minefield, look like they were centuries nipped in the bud. He has looked like a player running on his reserves, not one for the future. Was there no one in better form, or with better confidence, greater promise for the future, to walk out at the Chinnaswamy Stadium on October 9?”
So called Fab four batsmen ? Whats that supposed to mean ?
If you ask me, I am sick of this daily dose of phase out the seniors calls from media. Get over it guys. Let’s focus on the series coming ahead. If they lead this kind of campaign against government to act tough against terror trail, it would do a hell of good for the battered fortunes of the country.
