Sourav Ganguly - One of our Greatest Captains!

[forpar]

ganguly is performing coz his ass is on fire, and thats good for India. My accusations cant be more ludicrous than your support when he utterly failed. Now that everybody knows nobody can change any body's view around here, you keep yours and i keep mine and get off my ass.

[Dhruv]

I must say Chappell has ruined the Indian team's confidence completely. 
Isn't it a co-incidence that the first time he's in charge of the team and they go to South Africa they are about to do something that Wright and Ganguly could never ever do and those who came before them have never done. Beat South Africa in South Africa on a bouncy pacy wicket.  I have no idea how he has plunged the team to such depths....  We must get rid of him immediately before this becomes contagious. 

I guess if he takes the blame of the Indian team's failure he should take some of the blame for their completely spineless show in this test match so far as well.  Or maybe this one is down to the players whereas all that came before was his fault.  And ofcourse in previous toursw of South Africa he must have been playing mind games to make the Indian team lose because he knew that decades in the future he'd be coach and then he'd take the glory......

[sanjay8886]

People who hate Ganguly( no matter what he does) is not going to change because they happen to be from certain parts of the country and they think cricket is their grandfather's property.

It is more than visible that Chappel-Dravid duo had dented team spirit and team morale was too low. Check it on any other forum and you guys can see 85%( isn't that percentage reflects the country's view) respondents have view in favour of Ganguly.

If you really observe, the only things which has changed is Ganguly and Laxman has arrived. As I had said earlier, there was nothing wrong in the team, it was the team spirit and leadership quality which was missing. Somebody had to show the youngster's and give them confidence by playing a role model innings. Ganguly did and so did Laxman. The very fact of omitting them from team for so long smacks injustice.

See, who is batting well. It is the people who had been left out of the team and branded "old and useless". Guys, there is limit to criticism. Spare a thought for Ganguly, Laxman, Zaheer and see under what pressure they are performing or else keep writing bla-bla-bla...and be happy that couple of guys keep praising each other.

[PKBasu]

Classy interview with the man himself, by one of his leading detractors at Cricinfo:

http://content-eap.cricinfo.com/rsavind ... 73134.html

[PKBasu]

I must say Chappell has ruined the Indian team's confidence completely. 
Isn't it a co-incidence that the first time he's in charge of the team and they go to South Africa they are about to do something that Wright and Ganguly could never ever do and those who came before them have never done. Beat South Africa in South Africa on a bouncy pacy wicket.  I have no idea how he has plunged the team to such depths....  We must get rid of him immediately before this becomes contagious. 

I guess if he takes the blame of the Indian team's failure he should take some of the blame for their completely spineless show in this test match so far as well.  Or maybe this one is down to the players whereas all that came before was his fault.  And ofcourse in previous toursw of South Africa he must have been playing mind games to make the Indian team lose because he knew that decades in the future he'd be coach and then he'd take the glory......

Dhruv, congratulations on your ability to drip with sarcasm.

If you have followed Indian cricket at all this year, you will know that your sarcasm is utterly misplaced. Greg Chappell deserves precisely zero credit for the composition of the team for this test match. If anybody deserves credit, it is Dilip Vengsarkar, the new chairman of selectors.

Chappell's preferred team failed utterly in South Africa during the ODI series. India has lost ODI series often before, of course, but never been so utterly humiliated as it was here, losing by an average of more than 100 runs in every match, and not even being remotely competitive. And this was in distinct contrast to what Ganguly and Wright achieved on previous tours to Africa in ODIs, including making the World Cup final and winning the semifinal in the ICC Knockout Trophy against South Africa in 2000:

http://www.cricinfo.com/link_to_databas ... T2000.html

The sort of humiliation India suffered in this year's ODIs in South Africa typically happens only to the likes of Bangladesh and Zimbabwe these days. And this followed a feckless performance in the ICC Champions Trophy, where India were knocked out before the semifinal despite playing on home soil, and in the Tri-nation series in Malaysia (where India finished last, behind Australia and the West Indies). That string of failures enabled Vengsarkar and the selection committee to intervene -- and over-rule Chappell in bringing Zaheer Khan, VVS Laxman and Sourav Ganguly back into the side. To make the final decision (about Ganguly), the selectors had to all assembly in Sharad Pawar's home in Delhi -- otherwise, the presumption was that Chappell might yet prevail.

The team's disastrous performances were, in fact, continuing until Ganguly came out to bat in the pre-test first class fixture at Potchefstroom. India were reeling at 37/3, and it was Ganguly's 83 (aided first by Laxman, and later by Pathan) that is universally acknowledged to have turned things around for the team, while Zaheer's bowling was crucial in securing victory for the team in Potchefstroom. Chappell had fought tooth and nail to keep Ganguly and Zaheer out of the team, so to attribute the victory in Potchefstroom to Chappell is a feat of remarkably convoluted logic. That victory played a vital role in restoring the team's confidence going into the first test -- and Ganguly (and, partly, Laxman) had also shown how best to counter pace and bounce on South African wickets.

In the test itself, three of the five key contributors to Indian victory (Zaheer, Laxman and Ganguly) were men whose selection for this series occurred over Chappell's explicit objections. The one selection decision that Chappell deserves credit for is Sreesanth -- someone he stuck with despite repeated failures (in ODIs) early on. Sreesanth's terrific attitude to the game, however, is what truly distinguishes him -- and it appears that that attitude got him dropped from the Champions Trophy side, which is precisely the sort of silly martinet-type hall-monitor behaviour that has made Chappell a disastrous coach of an Indian side that thrives on exuberance. A coach's job is to build on each player's confidence, which is what Wright did wonderfully -- even when his wards were down. With Chappell, it has sadly been the opposite: he has presided over the precipitous decline in the confidence of two huge performers under Wright (Sehwag, Pathan), played favourites with and then ousted two other decent performers (Mongia, Kaif) and backed a series of under-performing youngsters.

Thank God for Dilip Vengsarkar. The man always had a stiff spine, and a mind of his own (which occasionally got him into hot water during his playing days). If anyone deserves credit for India's revival from the depths of despair Chappell had plunged Indian cricket into, that person is Dilip Vengsarkar.   

[PKBasu]

I think it is time to put this thread to bed permanently.

Sourav Ganguly's performance in this series has demonstrated conclusively that dropping him last year was one of the most asinine decisions in the history of Indian cricket. In his comeback series, Ganguly has been India's top scorer with 214 runs at 42.8 runs an innings. And he scored those runs positively, especially in the second half of the short series -- after playing a highly responsible innings at the start of the series that set up India's win (and its recovery from disaster, both in that test and in the preparatory match in Potchefstroom).

Kiran More should be hung, drawn and quartered  for his pernicious role in maliciously keeping Ganguly out of the team. Sanjay Manjrekar ("there is no real thinking behind his recall...") should hang his worthless head in shame. And Greg Chappell (although he has managed to "spin" this story almost as well as Clinton and Blair's media-managers) will hopefully be reminded forever after that his malice toward Ganguly brought Indian cricket closer to the precipice than it had ever been since Sachin was captain.

But Dilip Vengsarkar rules these days (he was Ganguly's room-mate and mentor of sorts on that tour to Australia when Ganguly started his career amid unfair claims of nepotism), and all is well with the world of Indian cricket -- whether we win this test (with SA set a modest 210 to win in more than a day) or not.

[shibi]

Dropping Ganguly has done him a world of good. If not he would have continued his old ways. He needed the shock treatment and it is good that he took up the challenge and has come back strong. I hope he will not rest on his laurels but continue performing in future.

[prasen9]

Dropping Ganguly has done him a world of good. If not he would have continued his old ways.  He needed the shock treatment and it is good that he took up the challenge and has come back strong. I hope he will not rest on his laurels but continue performing in future.

  I was for dropping Ganguly because his form was bad.  He needed time off to work out a few things and get a rest and get back to form.  However the way the matter was handled was wrong.  Nobody needs any "shock treatment".  All that was needed was to drop him with no "tamasha" but just to say that he was out of form and needed to work out things.  The dropping was not wrong but the way it was done with statements galore saying that all he cared about was money, etc. was bizarre.  Besides, there are not much "laurels" to rest on.  This series he has been adequate, not exceptional.  He looks good because the others have been pathetic.

-pm

[PKBasu]

shibi, I wanted to put this thread to bed. But since you raise it, please remember that this was Ganguly's sequence of scores in the last five tests before he was dropped: 101, 16, 5, 40, 39, 34, 37. Not a spectacular performance, but an average of 38.86 during the season was adequate (especially compared to some of his celebrated team-mates) and not deserving of being dropped like a hot potato.

What actually did Ganguly a world of good was playing for Glamorgan in the 2005 county season -- and regaining form (he averaged 60+ for them, and did well with the ball too). Last year, Ganguly regained his test place by performing in domestic cricket (in response to Chappell's taunts) but he was not made to feel welcome -- but still did decently during the test season.

And one of the greatest ODI batsmen of all time should not have been left out of the ODI side for the last 18 months. Hopefully this will soon change too -- given the tempo at which Ganguly has batted in South Africa, and against Shoaib and Asif at their best in Pakistan. 

[puneets]

Yes, Ganguly's bat did all the talking in this series. His comeback couldn't have been better. I'm sure that he'll be selected in the odi side too.

PKB - We should put this thread to rest..and with it another thread ("time for Sachin to retire"). Everytime Sachin scores a duck (or a low score), people are quick to post in that thread reiterating that SRT's days are over. In spite of that, he's been the 2nd highest scored for India in this series (though it was not a very good series foe him).
Imagine what would be the situation if people start posting in this thread everytime Ganguly makes a low score!

[SaniaFan]

Well his short comings in dealing with short stuff is still there but I like the way he is not throwing it away even on receiving the short stuff. Actually the break has done him good. Sehwag badly need one

[BSharma]

...He (Ganguly) needed time off to work out a few things and get a rest and get back to form.  However the way the matter was handled was wrong...    This series he has been adequate, not exceptional.  He looks good because the others have been pathetic.

-pm

Very well said.

[prasen9]

Yes, Ganguly's bat did all the talking in this series. His comeback couldn't have been better.

Of course, it could have been.  A century would have been better.  Very soon people will forget his effort and the number: avg. 42 will look as okay.  If he fails in the next series, he will be out again.  The only people with security are RSD, and SRT and to some extent VVSL.

-pm

[prasen9]

... Greg Chappell (although he has managed to "spin" this story almost as well as Clinton and Blair's media-managers)

He might feel slighted that you did not compare him to the Bushy spinners.

... all is well with the world of Indian cricket ...

Not really.  I guess I will remain the pessimist of the forum.  Let's see, we could do with a third pacer (one with genuine pace), a left-arm spinner of quality (where's Karthik?), a leggie (Chawla?).  I would ask Santa for an all-rounder (or at least one who regains his bowling form).  Then, 1-2 openers or the ones we have to regain their form.  Okay, 2 middle order bats to replace the creaky Tendulkar, slow Laxman, and fickle Ganguly.  The only thing we have in abundance is wicket-keepers --- Dhoni and Karthik will do.  We do have Patel, Ratra, MSKPrasad and  Deep Dasgupta in the wings.  All with their flaws but workable.  So, a lot of needs.

-pm

[puneets]

Of course, it could have been.  A century would have been better.

Now come on prof..I meant it figuratively