By Gaurang
October 8 2008

Sourav Ganguly’s surprise announcement on October 7, that he will retire following the Australia series, was like his trademark offside drives, impeccably timed. What better way to go out than against the top team in the world, playing at home, and with nothing left to prove.

The added needle of the presence of Greg Chappell, who in a ham-fisted way, pushed Ganguly out of the side, as “Advisor” for the opposition should spice things up nicely.  Ganguly already made a mockery of his dropping from the Test side, by scoring the most number of runs of any Indian Test batsman since his comeback in 2006, and this could be the perfect platform for him to rub it in some more.

Ricky Ponting has gone on record as saying Ganguly’s retirement will be a distraction for the Indian team.  He probably is thinking of how Steve Waugh’s last series, with the thousands of red hankies in the crowd, and the emotional farewells, overshadowed the cricket at times.  Waugh was accused of usurping his teammate’s of applause when after he bolted out to the middle to replace him, and then he was accused of running out another teammate, before himself departing for a blob.  There may have been an undercurrent of animosity towards all the attention Waugh was getting among his teammates.  Australian’s generally prefer to go out rather less melodramatically than a prolonged farewell tour.  Usually an announcement before the last match, and a pat on the back by teammates and maybe a standing ovation from the crowd, and the player walks off into the sunset.

India on the other hand lives for melodrama.  A glance at Indian TV serials, Bollywood movies, or even the headlines from the sports pages, shows the extent to which India is obsessed with melodrama.  If anything this announcement by Ganguly is likely to fire up his teammates, especially Tendulkar and Dravid, who along with Ganguly, formed the “Three Musketeers” of Indian batting for the past decade and more, and who are also nearing the end of their careers.  Both have already expressed how privileged they have been to play with Ganguly. 

For the Indian cricket fan, too, this is a chance to once again hail the trio, and back them whole-heartedly, as they battle to snatch back the Border-Gavaskar trophy.  Let us enjoy them together now as soon they will never be together on a cricket pitch in a Test match.  One hopes that like England in 2007 it is once again “All For One, And One For All” for the Three Musketeers of Indian cricket. 

Ganguly: Doing It His Way

Discussion started by Indian Cricket Fever (IP Logged), 08/10/2008 19:03

Indian Cricket Fever
08/10/2008 19:03

Ganguly: Doing It His Way

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Birbal
08/10/2008 19:28

I for one am now very keen on watching the series...

I was kinda ho hum...before this...

_____

ICL Ko Support Karo Yaro...

BCCI Ko Joote Chappal Maro....

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ananthd
08/10/2008 19:36

I'm still ho-hum, despite SG's impending farewell and SRT's inevitable record....

We just played these guys....

And I'm not sure I agree with you Saurav's going out on top....

That would have been after his MoM at Kanpur 07....

But yes, he's by far the smartest and the man with the most dignity amongst the Big 4....

The others are going for further embarassment....

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Birbal
08/10/2008 19:51

SD has also predicted he will take up broadcasting with BBC...

That would be awesome...

_____

ICL Ko Support Karo Yaro...

BCCI Ko Joote Chappal Maro....

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SD
08/10/2008 21:58

"And I'm not sure I agree with you Saurav's going out on top...."

I think you are partially right on this. His last series got him tainted a bit after his nice comeback. If he can get a century and a couple of fifties, I would say he has gone out on top.

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Birbal
10/10/2008 02:00

The last series tainted every Indian batsman except Sehwag...

_____

ICL Ko Support Karo Yaro...

BCCI Ko Joote Chappal Maro....

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Birbal
21/11/2008 20:22

Babu Moshai and Sachhu came to the party... Jammy didn't...

Well two out of three musketeers firing was enough for Ponting and his bunch...

_____

ICL Ko Support Karo Yaro...

BCCI Ko Joote Chappal Maro....

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Birbal
22/02/2010 19:25

After he has gone...

We are still asking WHY?...and not why not?...

That is the hallmark of great timing..

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Birbal
22/02/2010 20:19

Since he quit after averaging 55 in his last series against Australia... here are the scores his replacements (Yuvraj, Vijay and Badrinath, i.e. the player playing in the No. 5 or 6 spot) has averaged...

14, 85*, 27, 86, 22, 0, 54*, 9, 40, 68, 67, 23, 12, 25, 30, 56, 6, 1,

Not a single hundred in 18 innings over 12 Tests...

Yes India has done very well in that stretch... and Dhoni at No. 7 has done a FANTASTIC job of picking up the slack...but the question must be asked...did he retire too soon?

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Atul
22/02/2010 20:21

Probably only Sunny had great retirement timing and may be SG is close second.His captain ship was outstanding to his batting again it is very hard for him to get batting recognitions par with best bats in the team because of surrounded by better batsmens than him. we are having issue with 5th batsmans not for the talent but team selections.

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Indian Well Wisher
23/02/2010 01:04

^ agree with Atul, the retirement of SG was well timed, keeping an eye on the future as well..

While the replacements have not done great, at least they have been tried and we know how does NOT fit the bill, else we wud have started this exercise after 2 yrs..

With a sustained run by selectors, one of the replacements are bound to do well...even if not, its a step forward..

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Birbal
26/08/2018 17:38

It is nearly a decade on... still the No. 5 spot is a merry-go-round... nobody has been able to OWN it...

Raina, Rohit, Rahane, all have had momments.... and until Rahane finally put his hand up last week at Trent Bridge... to stop the carousel... even if temporarily...it has been the case.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2018:08:26:17:39:44 by Birbal.

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