Of the patriotic Saurav

“Oh, yes it is. I must have been in a hurry so I made this mistake. I will fix it up,” he was apologetic when this was pointed out to him.

On the field, Ganguly makes no mistake. His batting has been awesome, slightly on the arrogant side as his two power-packed back-to-back centuries in the Knock-Out Cup convey, and his no non-sense approach makes him in total control of the job at hand.

Is it the same Ganguly, the Lancashire dressing room thought was too selfish to be a team man? “I tried my best there and have no regrets if they think I was useless. I set standards for myself and work towards achieving them. Is it bad to have personal goals if they can add up to the team’s success?” he asked.

Often, he has faced thousand accusations like the Lancashire one, and on many occasions they are not cent per cent unjustified but captaincy seems to be bringing out the best of Ganguly. “I am enjoying myself. As a captain you learn so many things and ‘am trying to apply them to my game,” Ganguly said.

Ganguly may not be as ferocious as Brian Lara, his ball-working ability may be second to Graham Thorpe and the whole world knows he is no Michael Bevan between the wickets but Ganguly has a wide repertoire of strokes which makes him pleasing to watch. He hasn’t let Sachin Tendulkar’s slightly leaner patch affect his own style of batting which makes him an understanding captain as well.

“I know the importance of my wicket that’s why I wanted to bat through the innings here. I didn’t want to throw away my wicket because I knew I was capable of hitting in the end,” he rightly summed up the situation. He is still working on his running between the wickets. “Sometimes, yes, it lands me in trouble.”

Today, he was involved in two run outs, turning his back on Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid. “That was really unfortunate.”

For Ganguly, winning matters a lot and he is weighed down by defeats. He feels the start of the new season augurs well for the Indian team. “I am happy with the youngsters and we have showed in Nairobi how matches could be won. We have to carry on like this and make winning a habit.”– VG