Of Paupers and Princes......
Et voila...we have done it again....This time...the victim was none other than our very own Captain Corageous,Sourav Ganguly.In a decision that marks yet another dark day for indian cricket(god how many more will there be...) Sourav Ganguly...the man responsible for ushering in a new golden era in Indian cricket,was dropped after giving a solid performance in the Kotla test..In spite of the fact that he did not set the stands on fire with his stoic knocks of 40 and 39 in the two innings of the test,the fact remains that in both tests he played a sheet anchor role,holding one end up allowing the batsmen in partnership with him to play freely,and it would be fair to say that Sourav was instrumental in India's victory.
We Indians have quite a history of making our heroes cry,of reducing there reputations to ashes..Four years ago,it was Kapil Dev,who broke into tears on BBC...Yesterday,it was Sourav..well at least there are rumours that he cried...Four years ago,it was Manoj Prabhakar,whose pedestrian achievements need no mentioning...Yesterday it was a group of five wise men(with a collective experience of 49 tests and 103 ODI's that did in a man with over 15000 runs in international cricket,and who,even his harshest critics would agree,was one of the finest playersto don indian colours,and one of the most elegant batsmen of modern times.Surely he deserved better than the ignominous exit he got,considering the enormity of his contributions to Indian Cricket..
Of course,i forget,that there was a mastermind behind the whole fiasco.A man called Greg Chappell.Greg Chappell has had an interesting cricketing journeys as well..A manwho was one of the first exponents of Aussie Spirit,(that is of course,win by hook or crook) was one of the finest batsmen of his age.However,all his credentials are marred by one incident,which has gone down in the annals of the game as one of the worst instances of unsportsmanlikespirit,when he asked his brother Trevor to bowl the last ball of the world series final against New Zealand underarm to prevent them from scoring the five runs they needed for victory..Greg Chappell had a very good relation with Sourav,and in fact it was on sourav's behest thatChappell was appointed coach of the Indian Team..However the two had difficulty adjusting to each other,with the result that a public spat took place,which had an adverse effect on Sourav Ganguly's career.Since then,Chappell has left no stone unturned to keep Sourav out of the team,first stripping him of captaincy,then dropping him from the ODI team.But what happened over the last two days is quite astonishing..On day four of the Kotla test,Chappell told the press that he thought his spat with Sourav Ganguly was overdone by the Indian press.He even went on to say that he was happy the way that Sourav had fitted in with the rest of the team,and how he thought that Sourav was coming back to his prime form,and how he thought that Ganguly was a Mentor for the younger players in the dressing room.However,after day five,at the selection meeting,he voted against Sourav's inclusion in the team,claiming that his form was patchy,and if reports are to be believed,that the team did not need him any longer.His yes man,Dravid,obviously had nothing to say on this(poor jammy...he is 32....but i guess it is convenient to act like a kid some of the times)....Thanks to the immense and alarming sway he holds over the selection commitee,which is well known thanks to former North zone selector Yashpal,the other selectors (reluctantly?) followed suit,and voted against,and effectively ended the career of a man whose credentials are unquestionable,in fact who is comfortably the most skilled batsman of the great indian batting lineup(thats my opinion,don't bombard me for it).The point to ponder is,why did this happen..what did he do wrong this time..if u ask me,i will tell you that this is merely one man's immature attempts at a vendetta,in a fashion that maybe be expected from a banana republic,where a general is beheaded every second day,but certainly not out of a civilized(???) country like India. In fact,I have a gut feeling that Mr Chappell might eventually be a victim of his own dirty politics,as the signs don't augur well for him.And neither do they for his yes man Dravid..As for the rest of the board,well i didnt make much of them anyway,some of them having never played a test match...
Coming to Dravid,i can only say that i am decidedly disappointed in him..I had a very highview of him,and his glorious moments playing for India strengthened my belief that he is the perfect team man..But alas,I have been forced to change my views about him in the last six months or so..And it gave me a lot of pain to do so..The man,as i see it now,lacks integrity...He has kept mum on the Sourav issue throughout,and has by all means gained,in the form of the captaincy that he was so obsessed about..Does it behove a general not to stand up for a wounded soldier...Sourav always stood up for his players,and that is why he won the love and respect of his team...players like harbhajan played for "Dada".But i doubt wether Dravid will ever get that kind of a response from his team..Dravid is a bootlicker,and that is an understatement....i cant tell you what he really is without resorting to obsceneties,which i am in no mood to...Dravid has realized that by being Greg's yes man,he can hang on to the captaincy...whereas,if India start losing under his captaincy,and Sourav starts performing consistently(which by the way,he has given signs of already)then his captaincy might be in danger...and therefore the naturallly following course of action(natural for nitwits like him,ofcourse)...drop Sourav....Dravid gets to keep the captaincy,Greg gets to intimidate the team even more.....in fact...Greg Chappell can be compared to the British East India Company,and Dravid to the Rai Bahadurs appointed by them.Pathetic really,but can we help it.....i guess Indians,with their lack of integrity will accept it all the same....we accept everything..thats our problem...As for Dravid,every dog has his day under the sun,but,then again,life comes to a full circle.What he is doing today to his comrade,somebody will do to him at some point of time..As far as Sourav is concerned,well at the end of the day,its a sad end for a man who showed the way...but i guess there isn't much we can do about it...can we.except to salute the achievements of an extraordinary man,and who,...well for me...he is still my hero...
We Indians have quite a history of making our heroes cry,of reducing there reputations to ashes..Four years ago,it was Kapil Dev,who broke into tears on BBC...Yesterday,it was Sourav..well at least there are rumours that he cried...Four years ago,it was Manoj Prabhakar,whose pedestrian achievements need no mentioning...Yesterday it was a group of five wise men(with a collective experience of 49 tests and 103 ODI's that did in a man with over 15000 runs in international cricket,and who,even his harshest critics would agree,was one of the finest playersto don indian colours,and one of the most elegant batsmen of modern times.Surely he deserved better than the ignominous exit he got,considering the enormity of his contributions to Indian Cricket..
Of course,i forget,that there was a mastermind behind the whole fiasco.A man called Greg Chappell.Greg Chappell has had an interesting cricketing journeys as well..A manwho was one of the first exponents of Aussie Spirit,(that is of course,win by hook or crook) was one of the finest batsmen of his age.However,all his credentials are marred by one incident,which has gone down in the annals of the game as one of the worst instances of unsportsmanlikespirit,when he asked his brother Trevor to bowl the last ball of the world series final against New Zealand underarm to prevent them from scoring the five runs they needed for victory..Greg Chappell had a very good relation with Sourav,and in fact it was on sourav's behest thatChappell was appointed coach of the Indian Team..However the two had difficulty adjusting to each other,with the result that a public spat took place,which had an adverse effect on Sourav Ganguly's career.Since then,Chappell has left no stone unturned to keep Sourav out of the team,first stripping him of captaincy,then dropping him from the ODI team.But what happened over the last two days is quite astonishing..On day four of the Kotla test,Chappell told the press that he thought his spat with Sourav Ganguly was overdone by the Indian press.He even went on to say that he was happy the way that Sourav had fitted in with the rest of the team,and how he thought that Sourav was coming back to his prime form,and how he thought that Ganguly was a Mentor for the younger players in the dressing room.However,after day five,at the selection meeting,he voted against Sourav's inclusion in the team,claiming that his form was patchy,and if reports are to be believed,that the team did not need him any longer.His yes man,Dravid,obviously had nothing to say on this(poor jammy...he is 32....but i guess it is convenient to act like a kid some of the times)....Thanks to the immense and alarming sway he holds over the selection commitee,which is well known thanks to former North zone selector Yashpal,the other selectors (reluctantly?) followed suit,and voted against,and effectively ended the career of a man whose credentials are unquestionable,in fact who is comfortably the most skilled batsman of the great indian batting lineup(thats my opinion,don't bombard me for it).The point to ponder is,why did this happen..what did he do wrong this time..if u ask me,i will tell you that this is merely one man's immature attempts at a vendetta,in a fashion that maybe be expected from a banana republic,where a general is beheaded every second day,but certainly not out of a civilized(???) country like India. In fact,I have a gut feeling that Mr Chappell might eventually be a victim of his own dirty politics,as the signs don't augur well for him.And neither do they for his yes man Dravid..As for the rest of the board,well i didnt make much of them anyway,some of them having never played a test match...
Coming to Dravid,i can only say that i am decidedly disappointed in him..I had a very highview of him,and his glorious moments playing for India strengthened my belief that he is the perfect team man..But alas,I have been forced to change my views about him in the last six months or so..And it gave me a lot of pain to do so..The man,as i see it now,lacks integrity...He has kept mum on the Sourav issue throughout,and has by all means gained,in the form of the captaincy that he was so obsessed about..Does it behove a general not to stand up for a wounded soldier...Sourav always stood up for his players,and that is why he won the love and respect of his team...players like harbhajan played for "Dada".But i doubt wether Dravid will ever get that kind of a response from his team..Dravid is a bootlicker,and that is an understatement....i cant tell you what he really is without resorting to obsceneties,which i am in no mood to...Dravid has realized that by being Greg's yes man,he can hang on to the captaincy...whereas,if India start losing under his captaincy,and Sourav starts performing consistently(which by the way,he has given signs of already)then his captaincy might be in danger...and therefore the naturallly following course of action(natural for nitwits like him,ofcourse)...drop Sourav....Dravid gets to keep the captaincy,Greg gets to intimidate the team even more.....in fact...Greg Chappell can be compared to the British East India Company,and Dravid to the Rai Bahadurs appointed by them.Pathetic really,but can we help it.....i guess Indians,with their lack of integrity will accept it all the same....we accept everything..thats our problem...As for Dravid,every dog has his day under the sun,but,then again,life comes to a full circle.What he is doing today to his comrade,somebody will do to him at some point of time..As far as Sourav is concerned,well at the end of the day,its a sad end for a man who showed the way...but i guess there isn't much we can do about it...can we.except to salute the achievements of an extraordinary man,and who,...well for me...he is still my hero...
posted by '~-)Sandman(-~' at 12:56 PM
9 Comments:
A dog also spends the night...thats not in the sun...but the night is part of the day...what the heck...
Accha likhte ho Porny, I think you should pursue your writing seriously...
Cheers
The Mav
http://darkmav.blogspot.com
Whether Sourav deserved to be dropped after the Kotla test is debatable. Probably not.
But I don't think he deserved to be selected in the first place.
As for criticising Dravid, the way you go about it is a tad dramatic. Dravid's been a faithful vice-captain all these years. He's always been a far superior player to Ganguly who, I feel, has been allowed to keep failing for too long.
I do not doubt his talent but lets accept it- his being in the team means one leaves out a player with far more potential and dedication.
Having said all that, I do think that once selected, he shouldn't have been dropped after the second test.
May be I'll be saying d same things, which u must have heard before. But I'll say 'em again (may be coz I luv 2 argue wid u :) ) But Dravid's situation in this whole fiasco was, if not most, atleast a very difficult one. He being the spearhead of the Indian Cricket Team cannot publicly pass comments on the selection procedure of the team so easily man! Dravid taking a stand against Ganguly's departure would have been a most relieving scene for many (including me) but then it could have its bad effects on the team! Dravid HAD praised Ganguly's efforts in the 2nd test match at the presentation ceremony. Hence to say that he's a bootlicker and that he wants to see Ganguly out to get the captaincy is a grave injustice to a patriot like him. And you can't be sure that he's not hurt too with whatever happened to Ganguly! Dravid is not a very outspoken person, in fact not at all! And if he had come out openly in support of Ganguly, that would have left a bad taste in the dressing room. Another cold war between captain and coach was the last thing which team India wanted. And why do we want Dravid to react at all in the first place? Come on guys! This is a period of test for Ganguly. Don't make it one for Dravid! Let's keep him out of it! We know injustice has been done to Ganguly and now we want him to make a comeback in the style of a true fighter that he is! And the best thing is that Dada is taking all this so maturely. A player as great as him cud react much more emotionally than he did. I don't see this as an end to his career as many do. No way man. He's a fighter. (Don't know why, but right now, some ecstatic 'Dada' moments are coming back to me.) No selection committee can keep a performing player out for too long. And the good thing is that Ganguly is showing signs of starting performing now! :)
Well watever, but Jaffer being called was a big shock to me. I mean, take anyone. But Jaffer! Don't know how's he performing these days, but to me he sucked big time, the last time he played for India. Given his recent Ranji performances, I really hope there are people who are doing better than him.
P.s. Well, I had a passing thought. May be, this is the price which has to be paid to get professionalism in the team. Now we'll see Dada fighting to get back his place in the team! Or may be this is the price Dada is paying for his short foresight, for once!
abey itna bada comment likh diya..isse achchca apne hi blog pe ye post kar deta..
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@ lifetotaller
I bet ur comment is longer than my posting!!! :-))
i guess i wd have read ur crap had u made the title "of Princesses and Princes" or something like it
Here are some links that I believe will be interested
Really amazing! Useful information. All the best.
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