My Childhood died today.. MUST READ!!

Our great dada is retiring and the void which has created will never be filled. I want to congratulate dada for his fantastic career; he was a great player and was a very inspirational leader. The world cricket will remember him for his shear determination and never say die attitude. To be very honest with you, I am going through very ambiguous feelings now. I am both happy and sad. I am happy for dada who has had a memorable last test series. Not many cricketers get such a chance to have their farewell as special as this. I want to thank dada for whatever he has done for me.

Friends, on this occasion I want to tell u a story of a 10 year old boy – a boy who was considered to be dumb, very quiet, and reserved. People never missed a chance to make fun of that guy. Whenever he tried to do something there were always many guys around to pull his legs. No one understood him. A boy had absolutely no self-confidence. Teachers had already told his parents that your son won’t be able to do anything in life.

He used to sit quietly without saying a word and used to wonder that he is a big loser in life. Nobody had any sympathy for him. Perhaps he was too young to do anything about it. In year 1996, it was time when had just completed his 5th standard examination and had summer vacations, he was watching a cricket match by chance. Although he had no interest in cricket what so ever then, the 1st test between India and England was over and one of the middle order batsman had to go back home for some personal reason. Indian think-tank had to play someone else in the playing 11 and that someone was none other than Sourav Ganguly.

That boy observed that there were lots and lots of speculation about his place in the side. Few of the team members said that he made it to the side because of regional quota. Few of them said that Bengalis are soft enough to play cricket, some of them said that he just can’t score runs in the leg side and some said he doesn’t have an attitude to play for India as he refused to carry drinks on the field in 1992.

The boy deeply moved from inside, he felt sympathy for young Sourav and he prayed for him to play well. He was very curious about it and asked everyone about basics of cricket. It was the 1st time he was watching a cricket match as dada walked in. Very soon dada was on song. He played some fantastic shots and scored a brilliant 131 on debut against England at Lords. Young Sourav played so well in the off-side that there was no stopping him. Just when I thought that he scores on just one side of the wicket, he pulled Alan Mullally for 4 on the on-side following an exquisite on-drive. The boy was filled with bliss. He was filled with an awe that someone whose condition was like him is doing well. He was more curious to know about dada's life and soon discovered how he was dropped in 1992 after having played just 1 one-day match. He read Sourav's post-match interview and decided that he too will try to do something for himself. His childhood when was very repressed before just got life. The child inside him was just born again and suddenly there was whole lot of energy in him. He tried to understand what his real problem was and decided that he will work very hard to do well in class.

Very soon, Sourav scored another 100 in his 2nd match and that really was a confidence booster for that little kid. He had started to believe in himself. He started to wake up 5'o clock in the morning and studied day in day out.

Soon the result was there to be seen. The boy who always struggled to get passing marks got above 80% and was in top 5. There was suddenly an increase of 35%. Everybody was surprised by the change. Parents and teachers all were happy and were praising him. Eventually everybody was ready to help him more and more. .

It was in 2002 when he had board exams and he scored 84% in board. He was in top 5 in school. The same teachers who had ridiculed him by saying that he had no future were praising him.

The boy was so very much thankful to dada that he never missed his single innings and even used to keep fast for him when he didn't play well. Dada was his religion now. He used to kiss sourav's poster in his room after waking up daily and always used to thank him for the self belief he gave him.

Soon Sourav became India’s captain and started of very well.. I remember the boy wearing a black band on his arm for about a week when sourav was not able to convert his starts into a big one.

Soon the Australians were in India with record of 15 wins in a row. The time does not seem be helping dada at all. There were charges on him having an affair with Bollywood actress Nagma and his marital life seemed to be in a spot of bother. This had huge impact on dada. India lost 1st test match in Mumbai and dada didn’t perform well. There was hell lot of pressure on him. But he came back as he always does although he didn’t score too many runs against Australia but he didn’t let that affect his captaincy 1 bit and India won in Calcutta despite having to face follow-on and went on to win the series in Chennai. The boy had seen dada as a player but dada as captain was just improving day by day. The kind of aggression, the kind of passion and the kind of attitude was just unheard of.

But dada has this habit of surprising every1 just when no one expects it.. Just after Australian tour, India had to go to Zimbabwe for 2 test series. Dada failed miserably.. The boy was sad but he had lots and lots of faith in him. Soon India went to South Africa for a triangular series.. The boy was really horrified. Dada had to face bowlers like Pollock, Kallis, Klusener and Ntini. He didn’t want dada to open against a new ball in such a disastrous form. The boy was petrified when he saw Dada coming with Sachin to open the batting. There was lot written about dada being treated with chin-music and short pitch stuff. Match started and dada faced 1st ball from Pollock and with a little feet movement, dada just caressed it through the covers for 4. Suddenly the grin on the boy's face was gone and smile came on his face.

Dada had never batted as aggressively before as he did today. He just moved his one leg outside the line of the stumps and slogged all the bowlers all over the park and got his 100 in less than 35 overs. That very series he played such innings in each and every match. He had surprised everyone once again.

Just when everything was going on smoothly, the boy had his 12th science board exams but he didn’t do too well and got very less marks, even less than 65%. He had to struggle to get into a good Engineering college and just when he had lost all hopes, he got admission in a decent engineering college in year 2004. Just when the boy did reasonably well in his 1st two semesters, he did horribly badly in his 4th semester, at the same time dada was thrown out of the Indian team in 2005 after the Chappel-Ganguly dispute... boy's only support was gone.. and with kind of politics going on, it looked very tough for dada to make it to the Indian side.. he made a comeback against Pakistan then was again thrown out. But he worked hard again, played Ranji trophy and came back against South Africa.

This time he did few adjustments in his technique. The bat follow through was a bit higher compared to his previous stance and as always he made a tremendous come back.. That was the only relief he got and it was much needed one. The boy somehow did alright in his last year and completed his Engineering in 2008. He gave all the credit to dada for his success, who is not less than God for him.

Dada played well against Pakistan was had scored more than 2500 in that year but he failed in Sri-Lanka and was not getting any younger. The new captain MS Dhoni whom dada brought in international cricket had back stabbed him. He soon discovered that he is unwanted in the team. He lost his place from the ODIs. The friends before were no more friends now. The boy knew that even this time dada will be dropped against Australia and unfortunately dada was dropped from even the probables for the Australian series to play a match in Irani trophy by not even making to the probables. Dada was shattered this time. Exclusion from Irani trophy hurt him deeply but he was out of blue selected against Australia.

But dada was hurt badly. He decided to call it a day against Australia in Nagpur.. No doubt selectors were happy after hearing this. However I must say that he won’t have been playing if he didn’t have the belief in himself. It’s not that easy to motivate yourself when you play for such a long time.

The boy had tears in his eyes when he heard the news of dada's retirement but he was too shocked to be able to accept it. It was only at the start of the 4th test match that he realized that dada will no longer be playing for India and knowing the kind of personality he is, I am sure he won’t reconsider his decision of coming back. In a way its good that he is retiring himself otherwise he would have been humiliated again by being dropped from the side. Dada scored scores of 85 and a duck in his final match. That was the end of a great career and a legend that changed the face of Indian cricket.

The boy is all alone and had tears in his eyes when dada played his last innings.. With dada's dismissal the childhood inside the boy died. The big brother won’t be there in reality to motivate him. The boy is all alone now. His childhood died today. He lost his child ness with this...

And by now, u must have realized that that boy is none other than me.

Whatever little I have done in life, I owe it to dada. Whatever I achieved won’t have been possible without dada.. He taught me to believe in my ability. The most memorable moment of my life was when dada himself called me to his dressing room, he hugged me and gifted me his t-shirt too on which he has written " WITH LOTS OF LOVE - SOURAV GANGULY", that was the same time when i got the best compliment of my life when he said "MANISH I HAVE NEVER SEEN A FAN LIKE U" and I started crying. He told me at that time just to believe in myself and wished me good luck in life. Now we just have his memories. Whatever I will achieve in this life will be because of dada.

You are my God Dada. You might be retiring from International cricket but you will never retire from my heart. In this life, I promise you that I will stand by you till my last breath. I wish you all the very best in life and I hope that you will do things with same passion just the way u played cricket. I salute you great man, a standing ovation for you. Take a bow. I salute you with Indian flag flying high in your hand. JAI HIND!!

P.S. :- It is my personal experience which I am sharing with you. Sorry guys if it was too lengthy but do tell me if u like it. I would be waiting for your comments. DADAGIRI WILL ALWAYS ROCK!!

Tribute to a true Champion- Sourav Ganguly

Sourav Ganguly always has this uncanny knack of being so very unpredicatable. Every now and then a fellow feels like tearing off his shirt and waving it around or punching in the air that would do Mike Tyson proud. Of all places, Sourav Ganguly responded to the urge at Lord's, holiest of cricketing holies. So much for decorum... Every now and then a fellow feels an insult coming on. Ganguly was the only Indian captain who never hold himself back in calling spade a spade, He never shared a great relationship with Steve Waugh- the captain of Australia in famous series of 2001. So much for deference. Typically it started as a misjudgment and became an amusement that turned into a strategy.

Ganguly did not mind directing the fire at himself. What could they do? Bowl bouncers? Already every fast bowler worth his salt had tried to knock off his head. He had no lordly lineage but he walked and talked as he pleased, not exactly trying to provoke opponents but unwilling to deny himself. He did not give much ground to the modern game, with its fitness and diving and running between wickets and morning training and all that rot. It was brave of him to remain apart, for it left him exposed to ridicule, forced him to justify himself. But Ganguly was not scared of the pressure. Perhaps he needed the extra pressure. And, just in case, he had the populist touch. If Anil Kumble was the colossus, Sachin Tendulkar the champion, Rahul Dravid the craftsman, VVS Laxman the sorcerer, then Ganguly was the inspiration.

It has been an astonishing career. Some men prefer to follow a predictable path and their stories tell of a slow rise to the top and an equally measured decline. To that end instinct is subdued, contention avoided and risk reduced. That has been altogether too dull for Ganguly. Throughout he has toyed with his fate, tempting it to turn its back on him so that once again he could surprise the world with a stunning restoration. Something in him rebelled against the mundane and the sensible. He needed his life to be full of disasters and rescues, and comebacks and mistakes and memorable moments. To hell with the prosaic. At heart he is a cavalier, albeit of mischievous persuasion.

Taken as a whole, his contribution has been a triumph. It is no small thing for a boy from Kolkata to make it in Indian cricket. Till then local players were regarded as soft touches, and Ganguly himself was so categorised in his early days. Whereas the Mumbai-ites had risen through a rigorous system and the outstation boys had fought every inch of the way, the Bengalis seemed to lack the toughness required to make the grade. Ganguly changed all that. Indeed it was one of the many tasks he set himself. Always he has pitted himself against presumption and always he has prevailed.

Heavens, he even managed to time his departure as sweetly as ever he did any cover-drive. Before the series began he disarmingly announced that these four Tests against Australia were going to be his last. At a stroke his announcement put an end to speculation that he might lose his place. Ganguly is shrewder than he pretends. Just for a day or so it seemed that he might not get his way as reports spread of indiscreet remarks supposedly made about Robin Uthappa's hair, but Ganguly disowned the comments, even the splendid one about "every Tom, Dick and Harry" playing in the team. And so, once again, he lived to fight another day. Mind you, he let them hang in the air for 72 hours! That was typical Ganguly: at once the hero and the villain. He has been a great player whose career tells of determination and perseverance. As a batsman he played numerous influential innings. Often he was at his best on the game's greatest stages (including Lord's, where he first made his mark) or when the chips were down. Then he could concentrate. Ganguly was not a collector of runs but a match player. Such men cannot be judged only in terms of tallies.

As captain he was an uplifting figure prepared to stand up for his players. It is easily forgotten that his captaincy started with Indian cricket at its lowest ebb. He became captain when Indian team was in dark shadows of match fixing and team was in a rebuilding process after Mohammad Azharuddin and Ajay Jadeja were banned having been involved in match fixing. Top order was not stable. Middle order had lot of vacant slots waiting to be filled. Bowling was pretty much innocuous except the duo of Srinath and Kumble and there were not too many fast bowlers in domestic cricket who were not good enough to play at the highest level. Mind you, he didn’t had any good wicket-keeper batsman like MS Dhoni or any decent all-rounder.

It was his unorthodox nature and understanding of the game that tempted him to be innovative. He wasn’t afraid of trying new things. Be it shifting Virender Sehwag (middle order player then) to the opening slot or playing Dravid as a regular wicket-keeper in big tournament like World Cup 2003. He was a born leader who always stood by his players and team. He always gave youngsters many a chance to prove themselves. It was under his regimen that India got players like Virender Sehwag, Yuvraj Singh, Mohammad Kaif, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, MS Dhoni, Ashish Nehra, Gautam Gambhir etc. I remember a famous incident of 2001 Australian series when India lost 1^st test match against Australia in Mumbai. Selectors were a bit circumspect about including VVS Laxman and Harbhajan Singh in the Indian squad. It was Ganguly who had an altercation with the selectors and he finally succeeded to have them squad and we all remember how well they both performed in that Australian series.

However, a due credit must be given to John Wright as well. He along with Ganguly just changed the attitude of whole team. Before their regimen Indians were termed as “Tigers at home and chokers abroad”. They just didn’t had the self belief to win matches abroad. Sourav along with coach John Wright ignited the candle of self-belief and a never say die attitude that they can win all over the world. It was in their era that Indian team got the name “TEAM INDIA”. Ganguly had a support of resolute and principled bunch of cricketers. They needed someone to blow the bugle and Ganguly obliged. That is leadership. Alone among the cricketing nations, his Indian side repeatedly troubled the Australians. Under his leadership the team prevailed in England, daring to bat first on a Headingley greentop. Indeed the very image of Indian cricket changed - a process started by Sunil Gavaskar and completed by Ganguly and companions. No longer does anyone talk about timidity against fast bowling or languishing overseas. Driven in varying degrees by pride and professionalism, the now-departing generation acknowledged these weaknesses, confronted them and corrected them.

Always Ganguly was in the thick of it. No matter how often he was discarded he bounced back. No matter how frequently his cricketing obituary was written he found a way back into the team. At times he seemed to relish the headlines forecasting his imminent and final downfall. He is not by nature defiant. It is too petty an emotion. Just that he liked to prove doubters wrong. Criticism spurred him on. Otherwise he was inclined to become lethargic. He revelled in his reputation as an independent man who lived and played by his own lights.

He is not a man easily pinned down. Although it is never wise to suppose a man can be caught in a single adjective, it is much easier with his contemporaries. To watch Rahul Dravid or Virender Sehwag or Anil Kumble play is to know a large part of them. Ganguly liked to keep people guessing. Perhaps it is his background. Is it possible that the son of a wealthy businessman might have had some reservations, even embarrassment, about becoming a professional cricketer? Deep down Ganguly belonged to the old days, not so much of aristocracy as of ease. He cast himself as a sportsman, a player of games, and on the surface did not take it too seriously. And yet the fires of competition burned hot.

In some respects he has been a rebel, against the expectations of his origins, against dutiful modern ways, against the patronizing of his country. But he is too large a figure to be motivated by anything as shriveling as anger. Rather he has been a creative force in the game. As a batsman he was full of neatly executed strokes. It was not in his nature to brutalise the ball. Nor was he a poet caressing it with a delicate touch. Neither extreme attracted him in the slightest. Instead he stroked the ball, guiding it between fieldsmen or lifting it over their heads. It looked effortless but some men like to hide the strain. He has an unusual and unconventional mind. Often he will make the remark that raises eyebrows, causes people to stop and think. After all the hullabaloo of the travesty in Sydney, his stepped back and said that it had shown "how desperately the Australians want to win". All India was in a rage and yet a part of him respected that unbridled determination to prevail. He saw the meaning of the whole thing. Indeed he must have taken satisfaction from it. Australia has worked themselves into a lather over beating India. The rivalry had been largely his creation. And India had stood its ground. He had played his part in that as well.

Ganguly was at his most effective against the Australians. Somehow he sensed that the two nations had a lot in common, though they knew it not. But he felt that his players were unduly intimidated by the reputations and muscularity of these opponents. Accordingly he set out to convince them that the Aussies were human and could be beaten. In India he turned up late for the toss, a cheekiness that began as an accident and became an amusing tactic. It worked. The Australians became riled and started to play the man and not the ball. They had fallen into Ganguly's trap. His players could see that he was neither scared nor scarred, and enjoyed plucking the giant's beard. As captain Ganguly understood the value of gestures, the importance of appearances.

By no means, though, was it all gestures. Ganguly was the real thing, or else he could not have carried his players along with him. In Australia in 2003-04 he knew that his struggling team needed him to lead the way in the critical hour with a captain's innings and in Brisbane he promptly produced a rousing, valorous hundred on a lively pitch against a rampant attack. It was this performance that confirmed, once and for all, that Ganguly was not as fragile as he seemed. A twig can be snapped but not even a tempest can uproot a tree. It also secured the respect of his initially reluctant opponents, who know a fighter when they see one. As far as the Aussies were concerned, Lord Snooty had earned his stripes. It is one thing to talk, quite another to follow up with deeds.

And now he leaves the scene. Although he has batted with silky serenity in this series, it is the right time to go. A man has only so many struggles in him. A player's supporters have only so many battles in them. Perhaps in the last few days of his career he will play his part in India's greatest cricketing feat, the downing of Australia not by miraculous deed but sustained ruthlessness. If so it will be no more than he deserves. Ganguly served with distinction and leaves Indian cricket in a much better state than he found it. He will leave behind him the legacy that won’t be easy to fill. I wish him all the very best for his future endeavors. May god bless him and give him a lot of success. Looking forward to see him in IPL and then as a coach of the Indian Team J.

End of the Gangulian Era

10th October 2008

Sourav Ganguly, one of the finest left handers India has ever produced is retiring after test series against Australia. First of all I would like to congratulate Sourav for such a fantastic career and his tremendous contribution to Indian cricket. The decision really caught me off-guard as soon as saw the news. I was seriously hoping and praying if it was not true but it was. I must confess that he has had a huge impact on my life. There are so many things that I have learned from him over the years. May be timing of his call was not the perfect one but that’s the way it goes. He was just not himself after being dropped from the Rest of India squad against Delhi. The age was not on his side to make a comeback again which he is famous for over the years, be it a come back in 1996 against England at Lords where he scored the most elegant hundred that you will ever see or against the might South Africans in December 2006. One of his great qualities was his self-belief. He showed the Indian team what it takes to win overseas. His image will always be of a leader who showed his team how to believe in themselves.

Sourav had to struggle for each and everything he has achieved. At times life has really been unfair to him. His first love has always been football. How he started playing cricket is a different story itself. His brother Snehashish Ganguly was a Ranji cricketer of Bengal. Sourav used to attend the practice sessions along with his brother. He is a right hander naturally but he eventually took guard as a left hander. Who would have imagined that this young block will turn into one of the greatest cricketers of all time. Young Sourav started taking his cricket seriously and was selected for Bengal squad against Rajasthan. His brother, then the captain of Bengal was dropped and Sourav was included in his place. It was really a paradox situation for him. He was happy to be selected for Bengal on one side, on other side he was sad because his brother was dropped. Playing in his first Ranji match he scored a fine hundred against Rajasthan and he had scored tons of runs. The selectors couldn’t ignore him anymore and he was selected for the tour down under in a tri-series against Australia and West Indies. He played just one match against West Indies and he was dropped from the Indian team, the reason has still been a mystery to many. Some said that he is not a good team-man, some said that he refused to carry drinks onto the field as a 12^th man. Just 19 then, Sourav put all that behind him and started working hard but he had to wait for 4 long years to make a comeback. He was selected for the England tour in 1996 for 3 test match series. There was lot of speculations regarding his selection. Some said that he made it to the squad because of the Quota System. Many eyebrows were raised and there was lot of speculation on his selection. But Ganguly silenced all his crictics by scoring an exquisite 131 on his debut. After India had lost the first test match, Sanjay Manjrekar was dropped from the playing 11 and Navjot Singh Sindhu left the tour in between for some personal reason. That gave chance to 2 legends Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid to make their test debut in Lords test match. Sourav’s hundred at Lords was followed by another 134 in the 2^nd test at Edgabaston. Sourav proved his ability with the ball too by sneaking 6 wickets in the series. It was start of a new era. He formed a formidable opening partnership with Sachin Tendulkar which has been the most successful opening pair in the history of One day Cricket with over 20 hundred run partnerships. Indeed dada has been a true champion, a great player, great captain who will always be remembered for his never say die attitude. Dada has achieved everything and I hope to see him going on a higher note. He will leave behind him the legacy that won’t be easy to fill. I wish him all the very best for his future endeavors. Dada Rocks!! :) … He might be retiring from International cricket but he will never retire from our hearts.