Arguably the greatest Indian Left Hander ever to played Cricket, Saurav Ganguly was an enigma on the field and off the field. Right from the time he did hit that magical century at Lord's to the one he scored at Mohali in his last test series against Australia, he brought a sense of newness to the Indian Cricket Side. Be it "taking off his jersey" at Mecca of Cricket Lords after winning the Natwest Trophy in 2002 or perhaps his ability to dance aside Hrithik for the Hero Honda Ad he was just too unpredictable.
Nobody, and just nobody in the history of Indian cricket has evoked the kind of bipolar emotions that he has consistently done throughout his career. Right from the time he was picked for his debut test series and was defamed as a quota selection to the every glorious extra-cover drive he played to every short ball he awkwardly fended; for every time he danced assuredly down the track to the spinners to every time he misfielded, for every silken boundary he hit to every single or two he refused - people either loved him or loathed him. But there was something more.
Saurav Ganguly fed the Indian teams he led with a potion, an elixir which captains before him had not dared to touch. It was called aggression. And happily for us, team India has since then not stopped consuming it. And I repeat here who can forget his adrenaline-fuelled shirt twirling on the Lords balcony, when he mocked not just the English cricketers but Lord's tradition itself? Or India's amazing run to the World Cup final in 2003? Or his captain's innings of coruscating brilliance at the Gabba?
No chronicle of his legacy would be complete without a reference to his captaincy and his ability to get the best out of his players, particularly the younger ones. Whether it was the inspired decision to convert Sehwag to an opener, or the rather painful decision to make Dravid keep wicket to have that 7-4 combination, or the decision to bring Harbhajan back from relative obscurity for the 2001 Australia series, or the decision to promote Laxman to no.3 in THAT match at the Eden - most of his decisions were taken by putting his players directly in the cauldron - and almost all of them came off.
Never shy of taking the odd difficult call when it mattered the most, Saurav Ganguly was arguably the very best captain India had. He backed new kids and needless to say today we reap those rewards in Bhajji, Yuvraj and Zaheer. He did not mind keeping Kumble out in away tours when he was sure he needed only one spinner and that was Harbhajan to him. And against quite a popular view he never picked Laxman for 2003 WC. Perhaps it came to him only naturally as he always backed his own instincts. His struggle post his ODI debut in 1991-92 made him aware of the age old prophecy. It pays to back your view rather than going by popular choices.
But to me two incidents which really made Saurav Ganguly what we know today was none of the above discussed. The first was the incident which happened in the Indo-Aus Series in 2001. In one of the warmest sunny humid summer mornings in Kolkatta Saurav Ganguly made Stephen Waugh wait for almost two minutes before he came out for the toss. What was even more suprising and perhaps annoying for Steve Waugh was that Saurav deliberately called the wrong toss and even claimed that he had won it when it was Steve who had actually won. The "Hunters got Hunted" and from there on the Indians did pose serious questions to the Australian supremacy and were by the by far the only team which did that for major part of that decade. It was a invaluable scene to see how a bunch of "modest Indian" dominated the Aussies in their own field and in their own way. The second was when he took that call that Anil Kumble will sit out of 2003 WC Final against Australia. Now let's put it straight Kumble is a big name in India and leaving him outside from the playing eleven was a big news. For a long time Kumble did had that grudge against him but then did he ever care about these trivial things. What he wanted and always dreamt was Indian Victory and for that he could have taken any step.
He may have been in the shadow of Sachin Tendulkar for his batting exploits for the most part of his batting career but then he played one of the mighty role in the scheme of Indian Cricket. If Sunny Gavaskar taught us how to Bat, Kapil Dev the art of bowling fast then Saurav Ganguly taught us the art of captaincy and more importantly that " Art of Winning". Saurav Ganguly will be remembered as, statistically and otherwise, India's greatest ever left-handed batsman, an exceptionally good Test match player who never allowed his average to dip below 40 and one of the all-time greats of the one-day game. But most of all, he will be remembered for his brand of captaincy that quite simply changed the face of Indian cricket.
Saurav Ganguly : Take a Bow !!!
