I was not stunned by the snap sound of retirement by Sourav two days back but being a Sourav admirer since Dhaka final against Pakistan in 1998 its hard to believe i will not see him in action 1 month from now. My admiration for Sourav has been far far greater than for Rahul or Kumble or Laxman even for Sachin, because of only one reason his defiance to all the mortal laws. I started watching cricket when Sachin started playing for India and my hero worship started with Sourav. During those days 1990-1998 indian team was one man show with rare exceptions but with the arrival of Sourav and Dravid we became a force to reckon with in international arena and the good time of Indian cricket started in 1998.
I have written many blogs about my favorite innings of Sourav and so i will not enumerate them all but i can not stop myself in mentioning two really great innings played by him., his inning of 127 against RSA in RSA in first ODI and his 144 against Australia in Brisbrane in first test 2003 are undoubtedly by favourite innings. These two innings really define his character and his ability as a batsman.
He has many flaws in his batting and his inability to handle short balls has already become a legend in its own but only few guys remember that he was the one of the best players of short ball untill 2001. His demolition of spin bowling is a legend in its own. No one can forget the words frm Monty Paneshar to Sourav "Abhi hum bacche hain" in famous IND-ENG test series 2007.
ODI cricket made him a legend and ODI cricket destroyed him. He had all the abilities to become a great test batsman and he certainly lived to the potential till 2000 but the pressure of captaincy led to a steep downfall in Test cricket as a batsman post 2000. His inability to convert good starts into big innings played a huge role in putting down his average to 42. His average in Test cricket looks too modest and as well said by a famous clown "Statistics are like a skirt and blah blah"but his contribution to Indian cricket in test arena has been phenomenal. To be honest i never saw India winning Test matches abroad till 2000 but Ganguly gave us all. His captaincy can not be expressed in words. Everyone remembers that Ganguly stripped down his start after winning famous Netwest final at Lords in 2002 but no one remember who prompted Ganguly to strip it was none other than stripping of shirt by Flintoff after ODI series leveling one by ENG in Mumbai in 2002. Tit for Tat has been certainly an attribute of Ganguly's character. I can never forget his famous line to Steve Waugh "shut your mouth" when Steve waugh started criticizing Sachin in very infamous Mike Dennis saga in South Africa in 2001-2002.
He has been a far better player in ODI than any one else apart from Sachin produced by India and he certainly figures in top 20 alltime ODI greats. Very few people remember that he topped the charts of ODI ranking consistently in late nineties and in early 2000's.
I was very happy when the greats of Australia were retiring one by one and ever thought that time that we have also to suffer the same. Ganguly has started the chain reaction and i reckon within a year or so Kumble and Rahul will retire, Laxman and Sachin can carry on till 2011 or 2012 depending on their physical abilities and form. Its really a very sad period for Indian cricket and we can only salute our heroes for provising us such great moments to cherish and pride to wear and tears to hide.
Let them say i lived in an era when Sachin demolished the greats, Sourav thundered like a volcanao, Rahul defended like a wall, Kumble fought like an evergreen warrior and Laxman played like an artist. Let them say i admired Sourav most. Let them say, let them say......
Let us salute the fearless mind, indomitable spirit and sheer fighting skills of Sourav. Choice has always been a character of the braves.
1 comment:
dude......nothing much to comment about the article....u know i left following cricket way back....but i seriously admire ur "choice to stand by wat u believe" ..... saurav ko aaj tak tum god maante ho....sahi hai :)
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