Rest aside the ego-clashes, let's give it a huge plaudit for India to bring back the coveted prize after Kapil's army did it, not long back, 28 years ago. They beat all the power-houses through their way to glory at the Mecca of India, Wankhede Stadium where every dog and cat would understand the complete psychology of Tendulkarism and the timely synchronization of him lifting the cup at his home ground.
Starting a new stint as a cricket text commentator, even though the thorough adrenaline rush of watching sports had nearly vommited out, owing to fixing accusations in three of my preffered sports(Cricket, Tennis and football to tag along), the neoteric feel of following sports has stuck cancer-like to me and is in no mood to swell down. At the age of 10, seeing Ganguly towering over the Ntinis would digest better than cheap colas. All this would eventually wake me up to realize one big bang what India have missed out on. Lest the IPL, World Cup, India have failed to tighten their spot from where it all started from, Test cricket. I happened to come across two different protagonists at their job, where one succumbed to something I'm unable to describe(MS Dhoni), while the other showed that old is gold, yet no reason why he went unsold. (Ganguly went unsold in the fourth edition of the IPL, before plucked for four games for the Pune Warriors India). P.S - It is just my point of view and how I see cricket to be played, not necessary everyone would find this appropriate, or for that sake, should agree whole-heartedly. Yes, this is a Dhoni versus Ganguly debate but a conceivable one.
First episode - India had been given the scissors kick by England, getting thrashed in the Tests without a fight. They played a stereo-typed Test series against West Indies at home and barely managed to scrape through 1-0. The real test for them would be staring down the barrel later on, but they had no idea how deep "Down under". MS Dhoni would be leading a freshly bruised side and he was well wary of all the results possible, and also for a fact, the billion people would not be ready to equivocate their feelings of a drowning ship.
First Test, first innings - Australia had done narrowly well to reach 7-286. The tail wagged around to amass 84 runs.
First Test, second innings - Similar situation, India had conceded a lead again, Dhoni( with an prejudicial ugly fielding setup, on which I will focus later on) let away the Aussies run home with an advantage. This time the last stand was worth 42 crucial runs.
End Result - India were bowled out for 169. The Aussie pace was too rough a road for the Indians to ride on. They fell short by 122 runs. Now add up 84 and 42 of the Australian pace bowling contribution with the bat and it comes to 126, which meant, had India scuffed the Aussie tail, they may have won the Test. Now what catastrophe followed was India were blanked 4-0 by Australia and they seem to have gone from a huge high(World Cup) to a slumped dump(8 consecutive Test losses). From there on the media did not let anything get by. They cursed the team, thrashed them at will. Bullied ducklings like Virat Kohli but he was the only luminary after the CB Tri-series ended.
Fielding setup for the tail-enders: Generally in cricket, according to my knowledge, there are two simple techniques to disburden the misery of tail-enders.
Number one - Make the bowlers bowl full or length, have catching men around behind the wicket and square of the wicket or just wicket to wicket.
Number two - Bowlers bang it short, catching men in the deep and a short leg and confuse it with an odd full length delivery.
What India did : Surprisingly, what India or what Dhoni's captaincy showed that India had men in the deep when the last pair of Pattinson and Hilfehaus were batting. More baffling was that the bowlers kept it on full and good lengths and inspite of that, there were fielders on the either square of the wicket so easy runs could be milked.
This is not only atrocious stuff from MS Dhoni. Many captains have decided to take this route. They seem to have forgotten that a Twenty 20 World cup and a 50-50 World cup cannot do the same trick in Tests. Hands down, Dhoni is the best finisher of the 50-over format. His records speaks more volumes than his critics do? But what needs to be done in Tests?
This is not only atrocious stuff from MS Dhoni. Many captains have decided to take this route. They seem to have forgotten that a Twenty 20 World cup and a 50-50 World cup cannot do the same trick in Tests. Hands down, Dhoni is the best finisher of the 50-over format. His records speaks more volumes than his critics do? But what needs to be done in Tests?
That was Dhoni. Moving ahead six months, India were rubbed away by Sri Lanka in the CB series and Bangaldesh kicked them out of the Asia Cup. It's the most favourite season of the masses since 2008, Indian Premier League primetime. Sourav Ganguly had played in the 50-over domestic format for Bengal to gear up for this time.
Pune vs Mumbai 3rd match : Mumbai did not have Tendulkar and they rippled away the Pune batting to restrict them to 129. Alright so here is my point. Levi, the one who hammered 50 on his debut against Chennai (captained by Dhoni) was still a potential threat. If he could riposte a 30-40 quick burst, it would be all over for Pune there and there. But then the master-stroke in the name of Mural Kartik came in. There was a slip in place. First ball Levi played out. Next ball Levi out in a typical left arm spinner's fashion. Dinda was called in next over who picked up two wickets. He kept bowling in the corridor outside off and both Rayadu and Sharma fell for it. Defending a moderate total of 129 was never an easy task. Ganguly took it upon himself clearly knowing each and every bowler of his. Rest was history and Pune had won the Maharashtra derby comprehensively in the end. What was prejudiced was SRT wasn't playing, but does that solve the answer?
The debate unquestionably here would be why am I comparing Dhoni's captaincy in a Boxing Day crunch Test against a not so important Ganguly's first stint with a carved victory over Mumbai Indians?
If u go vice-versa, say Dhoni had gone more attacking with his approach against the tail-enders and Ganguly's strategy to peg back Mumbai with defensive techniques. Does that solve the question? Yes, India may have won the test against Australia and Pune may have lost it to Mumbai. The flatigious drubbing against England and Australia asks a question. Does India have any other option apart from Dhoni?
The hip-hop lasted around but people still feel the need of retro. The Nadals, Murrays and Djokovic can scamper around bullying the tennis ball but the masses itch to see a Sampras or an Ivanesevic type. My mother still remembers Sir Vivian Richards more than just vividly in spite of just hearing his shots on a radio box 25-30 years back.
Have we just gone further and further in terms of entertainment and politics and pegged back on what needs to be done at the base? This debate shall go on, but Sourav Ganguly, at the age of 40 has proved that with age, mind does not wither away, a true brave-hearted soldier who stepped up to the plate at the time when the Indian cricket were scarred with match-fixing. Picking up a battle-scarred team and winning the world cup is one, picking up your own set of players, marshaling them to face the challenges worldwide is a tougher ball game.
After four IPL unsuccessful seasons, this season as a captain and with a formidable team, Sourav Ganguly looks every inch the tiger he was once renowned for.Yes, his pillars are lazy(no pun intended) but his castle is a revolution.
