Ganguly’s challenge Winning the numbers game

Sourav Ganguly has raised eyebrows by choosing to bat at number three; ‘usurped’ is the word most intended. The incumbent, VVS Laxman, had got five one-day hundreds at that spot, most recently in the last match India played before the Asia Cup. Laxman has never been looked upon as a natural one-day player but, as a cricketer of extraordinary class, he needed to play both versions. The captain had offered him number three and, as is his wont, he grabbed the opportunity with a lot of runs. Now he stands on slippery ground again.

There are no sacrosanct positions in one-day cricket and yet the batting order is like a skill chart where positions are matched to the most effective skills. So Sehwag can play at number one because he can take the game away pretty early. Laxman was given number three so he could get the time he needs, pierce the field early on with his surgical drives and flicks, and also because he isn’t the best improviser or runner, qualities needed as the overs start to tick away. India’s batting order with Ganguly at number four between Laxman and Rahul Dravid was therefore good.

So, Ganguly must have his reasons to inititate this change and they do exist. There is little doubt that he is one of the great one-day players the game has seen and when in form he can be both majestic and destructive. For India to be a force in the one-day game, they need Ganguly to be in form and he knows, as do others, that he has only flirted with peak ability over the last 12 months.

With the amount of one-day cricket India will play over the next two months — at best 13 games, at worst 9 — he needs to get into the groove early and he might well argue that with the team’s benefit at heart, he is giving himself the best possible chance of doing that. It is a peculiar situation for the captain to be in for he has to be seen to be doing the best for the team, which probably means he should bat at number four, and yet he needs to be aware that he is one of the eleven too, which means he needs to give himself the best chance as well! Great men have faltered at this crucial altar of decision making; fine bowlers have underbowled themselves, batsmen have batted too low. Cricket is the only game in which the decision-maker competes alongside those whose lives he impacts with his decisions!

Accordingly, Ganguly needs to do what is right for Laxman, which is to bat him at number three, as well as what is right for himself. Captains are hailed when they promote any of the other ten. Indeed Ganguly’s finest moments as leader have come when he has backed the likes of Sehwag, Harbhajan, Yuvraj and Kaif.

But it is a peculiar thing that when the captain gives himself the same opportunities he is willing to give others, he attracts a different tag. Generosity and selfishness are just a couple of batting numbers away from each other.

It will be interesting to see what he does on Sunday. He has now had 218 balls in the middle and that should make him feel good enough to go back to number four which seems like his spot in the foreseeable future. Towards the end of his innings against Bangladesh he seemed to have got his batting rhythm back. But as he will be the first to admit, there is still a bit of rust in his legs!