End of an ERA
I believe we are in the midst of by far the most eventful tour that we have seen for quite some time now, both on the field and off it. Proceedings have been nothing less than dramatic.
The last entrant to the already large list of events was the announcement of the one day squad for the series down under. Rahul Dravid wasn’t called back and Sourav Ganguly was axed.
The last time this happened there was a state wide furor in West Bengal and the matter very surprisingly became a talking point in the national parliament! Not surprising as the representatives of the people do not miss a single opportunity to extract political mileage. Ganguly was indeed going through a long lean patch at that time and hence the exclusion seemed justified then.
The manner in which the Prince of Calcutta fought his way back into the side deserves a huge applause. It is not easy to start all over again, prove yourself at the domestic level and stage a come back. The number of rising young stars added to his problem.
The story has been quite different since then. In the last few ODI series, Ganguly and Sachin have been the main stay of the Indian batting with occasional contributions from Yuvraj and Dhoni.
So, the big question, “How justified is the exclusion this time???”
If one looks dispassionately at the decision, yes he has been making runs with quite a bit of consistency. No taking credit away from him. But we also need to understand the one day game has changed with the advent of youngsters. It has not only become faster but has become more aggressive. No doubt that Ganguly can bat and deliver the goods even now and for quite some time to come, there are other aspects about him which I believe have supported the axe.
He is at best an ordinary fielder. We saw how in the test series, the Australian batsmen would push for the second every time the ball went to Ganguly and Ishant Sharma. This phenomenon will be more pronounced in the shorter format of the game.
One more important factor has been his running between the wickets. He may not make it to the list of the most forgettable runners between the wickets but is at max presentable. This is more prominent when he has younger legs at the other end.
Sehwag has announced his return with a few cameos and has inspired confidence and displayed form and has added to Sourav's worries. He in my opinion is a sure inclusion in the team and Sachin’s opening partner for some time to come.
To sum it up, what happened to VVS a couple of years back, has happened to Rahul and now to Sourav.
This I believe marks of the end of an era that saw India’s most prolific opening pair celebrate cricket.
The only thing I regret is the Colonnel’s press statement indicating that Sourav has at most a year of cricket left in him and he has to look beyond and also the timing of the announcement. It could have been done more tastefully. What we least need at this point is the morale of certain key members go down in a test as crucial as this one. Not only because we have a chance to square the series and then believe that the series result could have been different but for the Sydney mishap but also for the fact that the Aussies are injured lions now and they are very dangerous when like.
The last entrant to the already large list of events was the announcement of the one day squad for the series down under. Rahul Dravid wasn’t called back and Sourav Ganguly was axed.
The last time this happened there was a state wide furor in West Bengal and the matter very surprisingly became a talking point in the national parliament! Not surprising as the representatives of the people do not miss a single opportunity to extract political mileage. Ganguly was indeed going through a long lean patch at that time and hence the exclusion seemed justified then.
The manner in which the Prince of Calcutta fought his way back into the side deserves a huge applause. It is not easy to start all over again, prove yourself at the domestic level and stage a come back. The number of rising young stars added to his problem.
The story has been quite different since then. In the last few ODI series, Ganguly and Sachin have been the main stay of the Indian batting with occasional contributions from Yuvraj and Dhoni.
So, the big question, “How justified is the exclusion this time???”
If one looks dispassionately at the decision, yes he has been making runs with quite a bit of consistency. No taking credit away from him. But we also need to understand the one day game has changed with the advent of youngsters. It has not only become faster but has become more aggressive. No doubt that Ganguly can bat and deliver the goods even now and for quite some time to come, there are other aspects about him which I believe have supported the axe.
He is at best an ordinary fielder. We saw how in the test series, the Australian batsmen would push for the second every time the ball went to Ganguly and Ishant Sharma. This phenomenon will be more pronounced in the shorter format of the game.
One more important factor has been his running between the wickets. He may not make it to the list of the most forgettable runners between the wickets but is at max presentable. This is more prominent when he has younger legs at the other end.
Sehwag has announced his return with a few cameos and has inspired confidence and displayed form and has added to Sourav's worries. He in my opinion is a sure inclusion in the team and Sachin’s opening partner for some time to come.
To sum it up, what happened to VVS a couple of years back, has happened to Rahul and now to Sourav.
This I believe marks of the end of an era that saw India’s most prolific opening pair celebrate cricket.
The only thing I regret is the Colonnel’s press statement indicating that Sourav has at most a year of cricket left in him and he has to look beyond and also the timing of the announcement. It could have been done more tastefully. What we least need at this point is the morale of certain key members go down in a test as crucial as this one. Not only because we have a chance to square the series and then believe that the series result could have been different but for the Sydney mishap but also for the fact that the Aussies are injured lions now and they are very dangerous when like.
posted by Amit S. Joshi @ 1:16 am
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