Post by Maestro on Dec 1, 2006 20:06:15 GMT 5.5
Saurav Ganguly has made a comeback. But behind his return is not as much his blazing bat as the public barking, parliamentarians’ outrage and media’s blistering attack following the dismal showing by the team in South Africa.
DADA IS BACK! The news tells you all that’s wrong with Indian cricket. Saurav Ganguly’s exit and entry points couch the behind-the-scene intrigues, surreptitiousness and knavery of Indian cricket. Back, but how is the question. Would he have made it to the squad in South Africa had the team not disgraced itself by its decimation? Would he have made the comeback without the intervention from the politico head of cricketing affairs, Sharad Pawar? Would he have found a place in the team had his arch opponent, Greg Chappell, not rubbed the parliamentarians on the wrong side to invite their censure in Parliament?
The answer is a loud “No”. If the Prince of Calcutta — so fondly referred to by his admirer and cricketing genius Geff Boycott — has made a comeback, it’s more circumstantial than actual considerations of his current form and play. For this, he can thank his stars — not himself or his performance. The egg on the Indian cricketing face in South Africa and the public and political outrage over humiliating defeats one after the other made it conducive for his return to the team that had been firewalled for him — prominently by Chappell and insidiously by other cricketing heavyweights.
Sharad Pawar — who took over the baton from Saurav’s mentor and former proxy chief of Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) Jagmohan Dalmiya after a legal face-off and devious string-pullings on both the sides — would surely have never picked up the phone, as reported, to put in the good word for Sourav Ganguly. He was out and forgotten — like his benefactor Dalmiya after being humbled out of the cricketing dispensation. And, Saurav had reconciled himself to the unsaid keep-out-Ganguly sentence and carried on with second-tier cricket, leading the Bengal Ranji team. Not much was heard from the exiled former captain or his bat — till the turn of the tide in South Africa.
The serial defeats blew the lid off and, like always, the inquisition began. Noise was made in Parliament while effigies were burnt in Kolkata by the long-smitten, vociferous fans of Dada. Bengal chief minister Budhadeb Bhattacharya, too, joined the chorus to throw out Chappell and reinstate the former skipper from Kolkata. Amid all this, coach Greg Chappell — who can hold anything but his words — advised the team players to “let the MPs talk, you play”. This was bound to incense the lords running the nation and predictably set off an action, which led to another, and another…
Behind this is Pawar, a political chess master. To deflect the “sack-Chappell” pressure, he gave in to the barkings and did what perhaps has never been done, at least so explicitly, in Indian cricket: send the selection committee’s head Dilip Vengsarkar to South Africa and later give a call to include Saurav in the team.
Saurav’s selection is not the full stop. More episodes are set to unfold in this intriguing cricket saga. There are more things coming up in this ongoing episode. Imagine what will happen next if sidelined Saurav hammers a ton in one his innings! Or, if he is dismissed cheaply in his second-coming outings! More is to come. So don’t go away. The absurd theatre of Indian cricket is still on.
Anyways
Good LUck to team India
Kuch Achhaa hi hogaa !!!!!!!
DADA IS BACK! The news tells you all that’s wrong with Indian cricket. Saurav Ganguly’s exit and entry points couch the behind-the-scene intrigues, surreptitiousness and knavery of Indian cricket. Back, but how is the question. Would he have made it to the squad in South Africa had the team not disgraced itself by its decimation? Would he have made the comeback without the intervention from the politico head of cricketing affairs, Sharad Pawar? Would he have found a place in the team had his arch opponent, Greg Chappell, not rubbed the parliamentarians on the wrong side to invite their censure in Parliament?
The answer is a loud “No”. If the Prince of Calcutta — so fondly referred to by his admirer and cricketing genius Geff Boycott — has made a comeback, it’s more circumstantial than actual considerations of his current form and play. For this, he can thank his stars — not himself or his performance. The egg on the Indian cricketing face in South Africa and the public and political outrage over humiliating defeats one after the other made it conducive for his return to the team that had been firewalled for him — prominently by Chappell and insidiously by other cricketing heavyweights.
Sharad Pawar — who took over the baton from Saurav’s mentor and former proxy chief of Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) Jagmohan Dalmiya after a legal face-off and devious string-pullings on both the sides — would surely have never picked up the phone, as reported, to put in the good word for Sourav Ganguly. He was out and forgotten — like his benefactor Dalmiya after being humbled out of the cricketing dispensation. And, Saurav had reconciled himself to the unsaid keep-out-Ganguly sentence and carried on with second-tier cricket, leading the Bengal Ranji team. Not much was heard from the exiled former captain or his bat — till the turn of the tide in South Africa.
The serial defeats blew the lid off and, like always, the inquisition began. Noise was made in Parliament while effigies were burnt in Kolkata by the long-smitten, vociferous fans of Dada. Bengal chief minister Budhadeb Bhattacharya, too, joined the chorus to throw out Chappell and reinstate the former skipper from Kolkata. Amid all this, coach Greg Chappell — who can hold anything but his words — advised the team players to “let the MPs talk, you play”. This was bound to incense the lords running the nation and predictably set off an action, which led to another, and another…
Behind this is Pawar, a political chess master. To deflect the “sack-Chappell” pressure, he gave in to the barkings and did what perhaps has never been done, at least so explicitly, in Indian cricket: send the selection committee’s head Dilip Vengsarkar to South Africa and later give a call to include Saurav in the team.
Saurav’s selection is not the full stop. More episodes are set to unfold in this intriguing cricket saga. There are more things coming up in this ongoing episode. Imagine what will happen next if sidelined Saurav hammers a ton in one his innings! Or, if he is dismissed cheaply in his second-coming outings! More is to come. So don’t go away. The absurd theatre of Indian cricket is still on.
Anyways
Good LUck to team India
Kuch Achhaa hi hogaa !!!!!!!