The Jinxed Prince Of Indian Cricket

English people are the best in inventing things , and the gracious people that they are , they let the world get better at it. One such invention is Cricket!!!! The longest running soap in Indian entertainment history. The inventory required for playing such a sport is just minimal. All you require is a wooden plank and a rubber and BAM!!!! You can engage in a game anywhere anytime. That is the beauty.  "What's Cricket in India ?"   is actually a stupid question in like of  " What's India without cricket?". The advent of limited over cricket lies in the fact that you don’t always have 5 days to get those prolonging results. So limited say 100 overs on a sunny day are enough to fix a clear winner and clear loser.


 Accident!!!! The word most loved by Indian Cricket. In India we don’t make things happen , accident happens and we are at right place at right time, sometimes. One such example is 1983 world cup , who would have imagined underdogs to defeat world champions who had the likes of Viv Richards and company. But we did it unexpectedly and it was the most cherish able moment in India. Twenty years after that we landed in a same situation. At Johannesburg India vs Australia. They say history repeats itself. But for it to do so some parameters also should be unchanged. Legend has it that a Captains knock is the only knock  which sets the game in your favor. In 1983 it was Kapil Dev.1987 Allan Border who even was the man of the series then. 1992 final belonged only to one man Imran Khan. Who could forget his speech after having the cup in his hand. He truly went on to define that modesty is the only virtue sportsman should have. 1996 , Arjuna Ranatunaga, do I need to say anything?, and finally Steve Waugh. You are not a cricket frantic if you dare forget semifinal between Australia and South Africa. One od the best matches in history of world cricket.  


A common thing in all those legends is even when they were blessed with world class players in there team (kapil had mohindar amarnath, border had taylor & waugh, Imran had javed,wasim and debuttante Inzamam, Ranatunga had Desilva & Jayasurya, Steve Waugh had the likes of the best players in world)  , they as themselves were world-class in every aspect of the game including leading form upfront.


The year is 2003. Australia is led by Ricky Pointing while India by Saurav Ganguly. Both the captains had best players on globe in there team. Ricky has Gilchrest, Hayden ,  Warne, McGrath while Saurav has Sachin, Rahul, Shewag, Srinath. Australia while batting first posted massive 359 on board.  Thanks to Ricky and Martyn both scored centuries. Seriously they were on song that day. To neutralize this achievement  someone should pull atleast half of what Ricky or Damien Martyn pulled off. The popular criticism that Saurav had to go through is that he would land India in finals of the tournament but could never win one. In his captaincy India was the best number two and WC 2003 Final was not an exception either. We ended up as runners up.


 When Star players succumb under pressure it requires someone special to turn the attack. To be blessed with key players is the call of fortune , but to perform as a player individually that totally is the call of one's own mettle and mental strength. Saurav's team was the team which could any team in the eye, but to make them pay was not always possible on biggies. India had to wait sometime more to call themselves world champions. Even in corporate life they say manager is first the team member, then a team leader and finally then a manager. 



Saurav was one of the best hitters of cricket ball & also one of the great Captain India has produced. The irony he could not be both at the same time. In his early days looking at big sixes in Sharjah was literally glorifying, he also has scored a century on his debut in 1996 , he was spectacular player. In his captaincy he even washed off the tag of India being overseas losers. He built a team that could sustain the pressure and we won a lot of overseas matches.
But when captaincy chipped in , India performing better under Capt. Ganguly overshadowed a non performing player Saurav Ganguly. To me he is like jinxed king who won every battle but lost the war. So the crux was answered. India required a performing captain. The one who is not a manager but a team player. And by now we all know what do both stand for.


Saurav was born fighter. Even when he was out of the team his didn't give up training. He made his way back in national squad retained it for a few days. We can't help but admire the strength of potent of his supernatural spirit. 


Hail DADA!!!!!!!