End of an Era...

We all knew that it was inevitable, but we could not see it coming. So quick, I mean. To retire or not, faced with this hameletian quandary, at last, the Maharaja took the plunge! He is the first of the pack, rest will follow soon. Playing over a decade against top opposition, piling runs and accumulating records, leaving nothing to conquer but only their lofty goals, they have come a long way. But as things start, so do they end. It was always a matter of who would blink first. They are not just a bunch of cricketers, they inspired a generation. Kumble, Sachin, Rahul, Saurav, they become more than a player when they become men in blue! Waking up at 4.30 am to follow their histrionics at Perth, burning mid night oil to see them fighting out at Barbados, ah!, those were the days. It seems only yesterday when we were cursing Indian tail-enders when they fell to gather those 18 runs in Chennai, after Sachin had played his heart out. Sachin's back to back centuries at Sharjah to win us the cup, Saurav's majestic 183 at Taunton, Kumble's perfect 10, Dravid the Wall's running around the Adelaide ground with moist eyes draped with the national flag after a superb batting display, all goes in a blur. Those were without a doubt the golden period of Indian Cricket History. The nostalgic feeling keeps coming back, may be due to their career span colluding with the best days for our cricket following days.

There is no doubt about Ganguly being the best captain we had in both form of the games, but his legacy does not just ends there. He instilled self-believe in the team who was reeling from the match fixing scandal and helped them to form a lethal cohesive force. That here we had a captain, who was not willing to buckle down under pressure, was determined to give it back as good as he got, not just helped the team to rise gradually through the charts but also slowly instilled killer instinct in the team which was missing since time immemorial. The seeds were sown then, and the fruits were harvested when India did the unthinkable by reaching World Cup finals and going one ahead and winning 20-20 final.

Not long ago i thought it was very unbecoming of Ganguly to come on national channel and almost beg to give him one more chance. 'Hi mera naam Saurav Ganguly hai, kahin aap mujhe bhoole to nahin hain.' It looked hilarious in a sense then. But now looking at bigger picture, it all settles down nicely. It takes more than just determination and courage to come back time and again to the highest level, prove your distractors wrong time and again. After all if you're not willing to risk it all, then you don't want it bad enough. For a player nothing is more important than the legacy he leaves behind. Ganguly being already touted as the greatest captain of the modern times, a superb one-day opener amassing over 10000 runs, a steady test player, practically he had nothing left to conquer. Money surely was not a motivator. But then champion players do not play for obvious reasons. They do not compete with others but have their own demons to conquer. Anything less than the goals set for themselves is an under achievement for them.

It's a part of the folklore now how Ganguly fairytale comeback reached the crescendo when he stuck superb 239 against Pakistan at Bangalore, after he had bailed out India in South Africa and Australia. One could not but help noticing the tinge of irony at Ganguly being made the scapegoat every single time, when all through his captaincy he supported his bunch of young players through thick and thin. Not for nothing players like Yuvraj Singh, Harbhajan and Sehwag swore by his name! But all credit to him that despite being disappointed, he was not flustered. It is very convenient to forget that he dropped down batting order in the star studded line up despite being the captain and thus could easily have batted up in the order. Almost all the time in test matches, he had to stick around with tail-enders salvaging some pride, not to mention the match itself or look for some quick runs in order to call for declaration. Easily his average could have been a bit healthy but does he really care when his team is winning. In one day also he dropped himself down from a highly effective opening partnership with Sachin in order to accommodate Sehwag in the team. It is not just fashionable to trash Ganguly, it has also become mandatory so, it seems these days. I just laugh and get out of the brawl when my friends start the senior bashing! I cannot stop smirking when they in a jest try to fill their places in the team with current heart throb like Yusuf Pathan and Rohit Sharma. After all realism is the inevitable casualty of irrational exuberance. But to be effective in a series and to be productive over a decade, at different venues, against testing circumstances and fierce opposition when they have sized you up all these years and have come up with stringent plans to contain you, ensure your place among the greatest.

Sauvav Ganguly’s cricketing career represents a triumph of spirit. A fighter to the core, he traded new paths, crossed milestones where few had gone before, proved his doubters wrong time and again. Always perceived as playing into the hands of sycophantic coterie, he had to turn the clock every now and then. Playing in such a taxing and distracting environment, in his own words “with a gun pointing at your head”, he has achieved more than mere mortals. “The things which Greg says don’t faze me. I know what I can do out there. I don’t have to prove people wrong. That’s not why I am playing. I am playing to challenge myself and see if I can do it again,” said Sampras, when asked about to comment on Greg Rudeski’s comment that he was a spent force. On second thought this could be Dada’s word too!!

“Those whom the Gods wish to destroy”, Cyril Connolly , once wrote in a bout of self-confession ,”they first call promising. ” Right from the debut century at the Mecca of cricket to being enshrined as God of off-side, Ganguly has been hinting that, you can destroy a man, but cannot defeat him. We will miss you Dada and your audacity to challenge best in the business. Thanks for all the memories.