Sourav Ganguly and Team India

It is unlike me that I am writing about Sourav Ganguly or cricket inspite of being an avid follower of cricket. My cricket acumen is not as sharp as one of my friend but I do follow the game and believe that I possess good knowledge. It is in the wake of my friend's outburst on Team India that I thought to give some counter punch on his face. Let me put some facts although it will cause a great upheavel, because it will hurt my friend's and his blog friends (Bongs) ego. They put Sourav Ganguly over Team India which led me to consider his place in Indian team. I consider Sourav as a batsman and not as a batting allrounder and will try to find a place for him in the team.

Opener's Slot: Sourav has never opened in test cricket. You should not expect a 33 year old cricketer to come at openor's slot to provide stability when he is playing as a moiddle order batsman over the years. Besides, Virender Sehwag has a 50+ average as an opener and Gautam Gambhir, a beginner, has an average over 37 just three below Sourav.

One and Two down: Rahul Dravid is the best number three batsman India has ever produced. He has proved his worth for the team time and again and cannot be replaced even by counting few heroics like Laxman's epic 281 and Sourav's back to back centuries in England way back in 1996. Also, Sachin has cemented his place at number four and with 35 centuries and over 10000 runs you cannot replace him with Dravid either, forget Ganguly.

Three and Four Down: Sourav did his bulk of scoring at four down. He was really good against the mighty Australians in 2003-2004 and against Pakistan too. Now, we have three contenders for these places apart from Sourav: Laxman, Kaif and Yuvraj. By far, Laxman is the best among them because of his technique and penchant for huge scores. Now chosing between Ganguly, Yuvraj or Kaif is a difficult choice but given the present state, sooner or later, Kaif and Yuvraj will overpower Laxman and Ganguly, respectively. I personally feel Yuvraj was given more choice than Kaif and Kaif is far more better than Yuvraj. Also, Ganguly is better than both in terms of experience and technique but the recent slump in form is also a worry. Just straying from the topic, Sourav's record over the years is dismal and his gritty 40 and 39 in Kotla test were good scores but not the very best of him. I also saw Yuvraj playing with confidence after Ganguly's departure which clearly shows the state of both the players. They were contending for one place and Ganguly's shaking of head after his dismisal clearly indicated that he knew his place was lost.

Five to Nine down: Ganguly can't keep so Dhoni is the automatic choice. Dhoni can be replaced by any wicketkeeper but not by Ganguly. Also, you need bowlers to bowl other team out and hence Ganguly does not fit in the last four slots.

My friend mentioned about the records of Dravid in the Australia and SA series and he went on to write that Ganguly knew that Dravid was the best batsman India ever produced. Same with Dravid. He knew that Ganguly is the best captain India ever produced but he can't give his captaincy back to Ganguly. As a batsman, everybody knows who is better. It is not about the classy 136 and shaky 95 in Lord's test but it is about the recent performance. This was written in HT quoted from a highly placed source, "We knew that even if we picked Sourav, Chappell was capable of not playing him and Dravid was clearly uncomfortable with having his former captain in the dressing room". So what the fuss about Ganguly; true he deserved a better exit and true that More is anti-Ganguly, but by no means Dravid was involved in this. Remember Waugh was similarly axed from the one day team and was told about the selctors' intention in 2003-2004. Ganguly went in similar fashion and he also deserved a ceremonious exit but Board politics and Kiran More came in between.

People should support Sourav's cause but should also look at the future. Nobody is happy about Sourav's exit but that should not create pressure on the team. Ganguly was emotional and said that nobody visited his room after the team for the third test was announced. The younger lots who want to keep their places in Indian team have to cope with the politics, Chappel and cannot enjoy the luxury of dividing the team again. It is pathetic but this is the state of Indian cricket. Turn to the senior members. Laxman cannot forget what Ganguly did during Zimbabwe series. Kumble was not in action during the whole world cup because of Ganguly although he was a better fighter than Ganguly himself, and perofrmed well in all the matches he played. Nobody should question Dravid's commitment towards the team. He gave 100 percent to Ganguly's team India by coming down the order when required and keeping the gloves in one dayer. Ganguly's success is largely attributed to Dravid's efforts.

Comments are invited from all corners of India and my friend too.