NEW DELHI, NOV 18: Much as there was to admire in the silken timing of Saurav Ganguly’s stroke-play at the Ferozshah Kotla on Wednesday, one incident left a discordant note in the otherwise flawless innings of the Calcuttan. Strokes flowed and even the plugged gaps on the off-side were breached with the magical sleight of his bat. Joining in the fun was Rahul Dravid as he shed his inhibition against Daniel Vettori to win a personal battle against the left-arm spinner.
As the crowd warmed up to this display, forgetting the boredom of watching a one-sided contest, came the sudden panicky reaction from Ganguly.
Ganguly, probably fearing that Dravid’s aggression could deprive him of a hundred as the target was fast approaching, signalled to his partner. The meaning of what Ganguly wanted to convey was not lost on the huge crowd. The star of the series was pleading: Why are you doing this to me, help me in completing my century.
Dravid responded by ignoring the opportunity of scoring runs on the next ball hefaced. The meaning of Dravid’s response, too, was not lost on the crowd. `Hang on, relax, I am aware of your needs,’ was what Dravid’s gesture conveyed.
Ganguly, it seemed, was still not satisfied, and on the first ball he faced after that, he made a wild charge and was stumped by a mile. Sachin Tendulkar walked in and walked back. Two wickets gone in a hurry, not that it mattered much in the end as India needed only 25 runs to complete victory. But it did a lot to change the entertaining course of the match.
Dravid lost rhythm he had built and the fear of losing another wicket meant stonewalling from him and Vijay Bharadwaj. Both batsmen could afford to play the few overs without attempting any run but the match had now become painful to watch despite the imminent Indian win. Ganguly can score many more centuries given the number of One-day games being played.
It won’t even come as a surprise if he overtakes Tendulkar on this score. Perusing records and milestones is the birth right of a sportsman butan obsession of it could be misunderstood as being selfish.