No More Comebacks

At a date and time of his choosing, Sourav Ganguly calls it a day. Four-Test series against Australia will be his last.

The Indian team took the field in whites and, with careful consideration for height and hierarchy, came together for an official pre-series photo shoot. But an empty chair in between Virender Sehwag and Harbhajan Singh gave a pregnant pause to the proceedings. There were a few head-shaking smiles as Sourav Ganguly ran from the dressing room, tucking in his shirt, to take his place among his team mates.

By afternoon, it was clear that the empty chair was a sign of an important announcement, and a symbolism of how the Indian team will look at the series. In the past, there have been several eagerly anticipated press conferences addressed by the national selectors, at the end of which Ganguly has been written off. But he repeatedly bounced back to prove his baiters wrong.

One last thing, lads

On Tuesday, there was a media address with finality on the much-debated Ganguly issue. It wasn8217;t a selector who was showing Ganguly the door but the most-successful Indian skipper deciding to end his career. Ganguly had made the media wait for long after the nets 8212; again there were smiles and shaking heads 8212; before he entered the hall. After a longish interaction, in which he not once tried to mince words, he dropped the bombshell. The cameras were about to be taken off the tripods when Ganguly raised his hand to draw attention with a seemingly innocuous 8220;just one last things, lads8221;.

8220;I want to say that this is going to be my last series. I have decided to quit and I8217;ve told my team mates before I8217;ve come here. These four Test matches are going to be my last. Thanks for all your support, hopefully I8217;ll go on a winning note. Thanks.8221;

The new chairman of national selection committee, Krishnamachari Srikkanth, said that Ganguly had informed him and Central Zone selector Narendra Hirwani about this retirement decision at the nets. 8220;Later in the dressing room, Ganguly and I spoke to the captain and coach. There were other players around too,8221; he said.

Controlled session

With the advantage of hindsight, one can understand why Ganguly was surprisingly subdued during training. There were no flashy drives as he adopted a restricted approach against the pacers. He then went to the wicket in the centre to face the spinners and, even with so many things preying on his mind, couldn8217;t help dancing down the track to hit a big six off leggie Amit Mishra. But the left-hander was overtly lenient when Hirwani rolled his arm and bowled a few long-hops. He indulged in some banter with his colleagues, but still he seemed aloof.

8216;That8217;s the way it is8217;

Before the R-word was uttered at the press conference, Ganguly had dropped a few hints about the big announcement. He would8217;ve known from the start that the debate about the alleged deal with BCCI would be raised again, and he rubbished the VRS report. 8220;I don8217;t think it8217;s ever possible that somebody can offer you a VRS scheme. I don8217;t think that8217;s possible in sport. You can8217;t do that to players like Kumble, Dravid, Laxman, Sachin, myself or anyone. We have been performing for years. I understand we all had a poor series in Sri Lanka. But they have been performing for the last two-three years, and for their entire lives.8221;

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There was a touching moment when Ganguly was asked about the extra scrutiny he had to go through all the time. 8220;That8217;s the way it is,8221; he said. 8220;I8217;ve achieved enough in this sport. I8217;ve lived with it, and the day I can8217;t, I8217;ll go,8221; he said in a muted tone.

Perhaps the 8216;comeback man8217; had finally had enough.