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Journalism of Courage
For a child who grew up in a 22-bedroom mansion with 35 relatives, man management came naturally, while intrigue wasn’t something unknown. For a boy who eloped with the daughter of his father’s business rival and neighbour, guts came naturally, while guile wasn’t something unknown. Not surprisingly a writer once called India’s most successful captain, Sourav Ganguly, a combination of Douglas Jardine and Jack the Ripper.
The mind blanks out while devising that mandatory prefix for historical reference, a post-retirement privilege extended to all ex-captains: Suave Sunny, Charismatic Kapil, Unfathomable Azharuddin, Reluctant Tendulkar. Ganguly? All through his career it was tough slotting a man affectionately called ‘Dadi’ in the dressing room and ‘Lord Snooty’ outside it; someone who had better things to do than hang around with the lads over beer. Bar hopping with mates may have helped the end-of-the-season appraisal but Ganguly played by his own rules. Even if it meant asking the non-striker to run to the dressing room and get him his woollens and preferring the company of his wife and daughter while travelling for away games.
Ganguly started the trend of kissing the helmet crest and was the first to wear the tri-colour batting gloves, but he didn’t stretch patriotism to ridiculous lengths. Although he led a team that had seen the maximum number of tri-colour celebrations on the field, he still behaved as a captain of a cricket team and not India’s representative for UN meets. In 2004, when he led India to Pakistan for the historic tour, despite the VVIP ‘winning of hearts’ message, the first statement he made on landing was: “I don’t believe in this goodwill series thing.
We are here to play cricket and win matches.”
Ganguly might have his whims but without doubt he wasn’t parochial. His close mate, Deep Dasgupta, did make it to the Indian team but he didn’t play one extra game. Ganguly would have loved to oversee Team India’s new blood transfusion but he finds himself out of the system. Maybe, there will be some among the crowd of young talent outside the Indian dressing room who will miss a Ganguly-like captain who fights tooth and nail for them. But there are also those for whom life has become simpler. Cammie Smith, Clive Lloyd, Justice Albey Sachs, Steve Bucknor, Ranjan Madugalle would have heaved a collective sigh of relief. They no longer had to deal with the repeat offender who dared — and also won.
