FROM PRINCE TO KING

I couldn't resist the temptation of writing some more about Sourav Ganguly. India won the test series against Pakistan 1-0, it could have been 2-0 had the Bangalore weather not intervened on the last day. Quite fittingly, Dada was chosen as the man of series.

In March 2005, the last time these 2 teams played a test in Bangalore, Dada's rough patch had begun. I was present at the stadium for that match and I vividly remember how he got out-he had just come out to bat and the first over that he faced of Danesh Kaneria he tried to hit himself out of bad form by going down the pitch for a pretty ambitious shot. As the case is when a player is in bad form, he missed the ball completely and was comprehensively stumped. The joke around the stadium that day was that nobody even realised when Sourav came and went.

About 32 months later, the same gentleman brought the entire stadium to its feet when he came out to bat in both innings. His double century in the first innings was followed up with a brisk 91 in the second innings, narrowly missing Sunil Gavaskar's record of scoring a double century and a century in the same match. This is the beauty of cricket- in all probability you get the chance to redeem yourself, and if you make the most of it all is forgotten about the past. Dada's timing, while batting, is his God given gift. The timing of his double century was even better. To come back the ground where was the butt of everyone's jokes and score a double and ensure a series victory- sounds more like a fairy tale comeback.

Cynics still say that the Australian tour is going to be his litmus test. I would beg to differ. He has proved himself in the past one year in South Africa, England and at home against the Sri Lankans, Australians and Pakistanis. Yes the Australian tour is definitely going to test his skills but that should be used as the benchmark to idolise him or shun him.

The bottom line is that in the 16 years of cricket that i have seen, a comeback of this proportion has never occurred. I was never a huge fan of Sourav Ganguly, but now you can put me on that list.

CORRIGENDUM:

In the previous post I had said that his century at Brisbane in 2004 was the last one before the one at Kolkata. The last one before his Kolkata century was actually in Zimbabwe, which had started off all the controversy about the tiff between him and Greg Chappel. And also the Brisbane century was in December 2003. So i stand corrected on both counts.