Prince is back to the diamond country
Sourav Ganguly has been selected to join the Indian team in South Africa. There are many things to note here. While there have been the lingering doubts on why Ganguly should indeed be recalled, with many fans having written him off completely, there needs to be a bit of a retrospective reasoning on why he is back.
He is here because:
He has some precedence to follow. Mohd Azharuddin was stripped off captaincy in 1996 and was struggling to retain his place in the team. The result: 3 centuries in 4 matches against SA. He was in great form all over again, managed to wrestle back the captaincy and then lead India to some memorable victories (1998 annihilation of Aussies in India, with the Chennai test being an innings victory; The Dhaka final victory against Pak chasing 300+) uptil World Cup 1999.
His own track record is quite motivating. After getting one look-in in 1992, he stayed out for 4 years before arriving with a bang in 1996. He should know how to do things in style. For me, its going to be infinitely more exciting to see him crack the SA bowlers all around than to rejoice on the fact that he is back into the team. I would again sign off by wishing Dada the best of luck for his SA safari.
ps: My wife is all smiles about Dada's return. :-)
He is here because:
- He has been performing decently in domestic Cricket, nothing earth shaking, but okay.
- He has given a clear indication to everybody that he is here to stay, whether it was playing all the domestic matched with all seriousness or the Pepsi add about how he was trying hard to come back into the team or the interview where he says he never thought of retirement.
- There is no proof that he is out of form, as is the case with those currently in the team - Kaif, Raina etc
- Indian team is in absolute dumps for many many reasons, so the bar to achieve to get back into the team is too low.
- He actually needs to get into playing XI. This might seem insignificant given that India has no alternatives, but with Ganguly's bete noire Chappel still in charge, I believe it is still a hurdle to cross.
- He needs to fire and fire big. And big means at least 2 centuries in the 5-6 innings he will get in the series and both should be gracious, elegant, Ganguly-Type centuries.
He has some precedence to follow. Mohd Azharuddin was stripped off captaincy in 1996 and was struggling to retain his place in the team. The result: 3 centuries in 4 matches against SA. He was in great form all over again, managed to wrestle back the captaincy and then lead India to some memorable victories (1998 annihilation of Aussies in India, with the Chennai test being an innings victory; The Dhaka final victory against Pak chasing 300+) uptil World Cup 1999.
His own track record is quite motivating. After getting one look-in in 1992, he stayed out for 4 years before arriving with a bang in 1996. He should know how to do things in style. For me, its going to be infinitely more exciting to see him crack the SA bowlers all around than to rejoice on the fact that he is back into the team. I would again sign off by wishing Dada the best of luck for his SA safari.
ps: My wife is all smiles about Dada's return. :-)
