RE:here we go again with Ganguly
by Rajesh on Jan 09, 2004 01:26 AM
Hi Santosh,
I am not sure if you were referring to me in your post, but since you mention I have a myopic view, can you elaborate on that?
This was our best chance to win a series in Australia and we didn't, how is that myopic? Just bcos everybody said we would lose all 4 tests and we exceded expectations, does not mean we sit back and let the Aussies come back. Once you have them down, keep em down, that is the way it works. Ganguly and the others keep talking about winning a away series and they didn't make use of the advantage we had given the faults of the umpires and Parthiv. If you want to continue on this, email me at rajesh98@rediffmail.com
It is rather surprising that despite listing numerous reasons for India's failure to force a win at Sydney, the author was hell bend on blaming Saurav in full volume. First of all, one must understand that cricket is a team game and a team made of thinking cricketers show consistent, postive results and Australia is one such team. (India is only on the way). It was quite evident that our players, all of them, were not "thinking" as one single cohesive force in planning the dismissals. While I totally agree that Ganguly has to be much more imaginative and daring, the real question is WHAT WAS THE CONTRIBUTION OF OTHER BOWLERS, who hed trusted? Additionally, as it had happened in numerous occassions in the past, the umpiring errors too cost us a lot (The ICC needs to revisit the thinking that western umpires do not always make decisions favouring Players from our subcontinent). So why blame Ganguly alone? Take heart from the fact that India is beginning to move in the correct direction and is in the process of developing the charecters required for a Champion side. Finally because of all these failures, we atleast had a final look at the Greatest fighter of all time, Steve Waugh.
while one can never praise enough about the valour, grit and stamina of Kumble, there are serious problems if he is expected to be our main strike bowler. Agreed, Karthik got hit in the first innigs, the others were falterign too...but look back at the Adelaide and Melbourne tests too and you will see how easily the Aussies played Kumble in the whole series...When a bowler bowls almost half the total overs, he will end up with half the wickets...
One can't really blame Sourav completely for putting all his eggs in one basket (Kumble) ... but it is essential that India moves on to usher in new spinners and with tongue in cheek, I would say that it is time Kumble retires...
The Simon Katich and Gillispie partnership, the Waugh and Katich partnership, etc. are all an outcome of ease of playing Kumble...It is the bad luck of Agarkar not being given the lbw of Langer and the good luck of Kumble when Agarkar, Chopra and others took some great catches to have the statistics the way it is... The bootomline is that it is easy to play Kumble...as there is negligible turn; his soft googlies come in so often that they can be expected...
While the comments on lack of imaginativenss in Ganguly's handling of bowling changes are valid, there's more to captaincy than bowling changes.
Consider the two declarations - Given India's suspect bowling prowess, we clearly needed more time to get 20 wickets. Was the extra 50 runs on the third morning worth more than the 15 extra overs? I was at the ground on Day3, and most Aussies felt that we were playing for a draw!
Also the enforcement of follow-on: what could have happened if Aussies had 5 sessions to "play out" psychologically, versus just 3?
One is left with the sad feeling that we may have squandered as much or more in these areas than bowling changes.
Having said that, I think we should take our hats off to John Wwright & the captain for what they have created with our team over the past few series. They carry the can & soldier on, and there will always be armchair critics around to discuss the "ifs" and "buts" post-mortem!!
I wonder who allowed you to write this column in rediff website! This column is a glorious example of unimagination and lack of knowledge about cricket. In today's world, people like you rule! What has a captain got to do if his team is out of form and why he needs to use his irregular bowlers when his main bowlers did not fire. Good job Rajeev, keep up the good spirit and write such idiotic posters, at least there would be one reader - thats you!
One myopic column after another! Hey Prem,cricket fans all and sundry are calling an SOS! Pls help restrain your editors from dishing out such gibberish. None of what this guy wrote made sense. Looks like he composed it off the throne! Ganguly, yes needs to improve tactically and he will! He has inherited a legacy of sickeningly defensive strategies that have plagued Indian cricket for years! All his players are a bunch of hard working lads apart from Sachin! There aren't any superstars in there. And he has taken this bunch and given SR Waugh and Co. a rollicking in their own den! THE GAME has a variance every 0.6 seconds. Inspite of this, the Aussies have gone on to win 16 matches on the trot. It stands to show that they aren't plain aggressive but epitomize controlled agression. Why do people get the idea that Ganguly could have thrown in a SRT or a Veeru & topped it off by offering himself!?! It aint a pizza we are baking. We're talking of bowling to the world champs on probably the most important day of their cricketing careers with their captains pride at stake!
If Ganguly made a mistake, it was to have kept the field spread on the on while MK was on, period! Rest was cool!
Our team went to Australia as Underdogs. It is Ganguly's leadership which brought the team to its maximum potential to fight in such a level.
You just can not, point blank , say his leadership as bull-headed, unimaginative.
It is the time for our Indian reporters to change their attitude and write something positive. So far , what you reporters has done is PRAISE THEM TO SKY HIGH WHEN THE TEAM HAS SHOW A GOOD PERFORMANCE & NEXT DAY YOU PUT THE SAME TEAM TO HELL WHEN THEY SHOW A BAD PERFORMANCE.
You should learn to keep yourself a consistent and encouraging mind instead.
Looking forward to see u next time with a better article.
