On return to team after 10 months, Sourav lets bat do the talking

He ducked, he glared, he drove on the front foot, but not one false shot in 13 hits to the boundary in his 83

At 11.19 am, around the same time he had walked towards the Indian nets two days ago, Sourav Ganguly dragged his bat across the patchy, green outfield into the dry heat of Potchefstroom. India were 37/3, a familiar story had begun to play.

Nearly four hours later, 8220;Dada8221; was back. Back in the pavilion after a brilliant 83, back with a loud crash into Team India, back at least for the first Two Tests against South Africa.

He ducked, he missed, he pulled, he drove on the front foot, he rocked back to smash some more, he got hit on the head, he got dropped once, he gritted his teeth. But finally, when he waved his bat at the dressing room after crossing his 50, then a slight swish at the media box, Dada was truly back.

Of course, it was a first-class game against the second line-up; yes, it was a pitch that flattened as the overs ticked by, even Harbhajan Singh was smashing them back; true, the opposition didn8217;t have much in the bank after their opening pair of Nantie Hayward and the dangerous, tall Morne Morkel.

And you are right, the Wanderers wicket for the first Test will see a different ball game.

But tell that to Wasim Jaffer, Virender Sehwag, VVS Laxman and Sachin Tendulkar. They all failed to withstand the early fire, with Jaffer and Sehwag getting unplayable yorkers, Tendulkar getting one that angled in and straightened, and Laxman just waving his wicket away after settling down nicely. Unlike Ganguly.

It was simply incredible that a man who had barely 90 minutes of nets in these 8220;alien conditions8221; could be so solid, so confident, so positive in his first game. And to imagine that Bengal8217;s most popular icon 8212; allowed to come back with a grudging smile 8212; had just one domestic century to fall back on since his last Test in Karachi 10 months ago.

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It was not the strokes, the timing, or the balance 8212; it was all about the mind, the past. Oh yes, the new episode of the Sourav Ganguly drama has begun.

Then, there were the boundaries 8212; 13 of them, not one off a false shot. There was the pull, the slash, the square-cut, the square-drive. And those trademark screamers past cover, two in a row off Nantie Hayward. Those last two also sealed the debate on the little battle between the two that saw words being exchanged and a lightning bouncer that slammed into the left-hander8217;s helmet, just above his right ear, sending him reeling, then waving for medical help, finally batting on.

He may not be your answer to India8217;s batting tragedy, he may still end up a frustrated man at the end of this tour. But he did have a small point to prove, keeping much to himself ever since he landed here, rarely venturing out, rarely going beyond the odd 8220;hello8221;.

Today, he did all the talking he had to, with the bat, helping India cross 300 for the first time in three weeks, add new steel to the middle-order. Ask Irfan Pathan. Inspired by his former captain, the young left-hander showed up many an established batsman 8212; not with technique, but like Ganguly, the heart to stay. He was unbeaten on 111 when India finished for the day at 316 for 7.