Rediff, Thanks a ton for this eye opener. I hope the selectors read this article in the right sport and kick ganguly not only out of the test team, but also from the ODI team. He should be exiled to far away siberia. Kudos again to Sriram Ramanujam and Rediff.
Thanks to the Rediff cricket editors for giving us this gem of a column. By far the best of the year, unless something crops us in the next couple of hours. Happy New Year to all at Rediff.
Hi: Probably u got ur answer in the first two tests and the susequent oneday triangular. Under Ganguly India was unfortunate not to win the first test with the skipper scoring a century. Without Ganguly, the team crumbled and had to fight for a draw. In the oneday series, if u notice carefully, teams body language has changed and looking purposeless. Now that Ganguly is coming back in Bangalore oneday, I hope the teams callous display ends. Ganguly is till date India's second best captain (after Kapil - he won the world cup!). This time also he made anti-Ganguly critiques like u to swallow your words. Rahul Dravid or Sachin stands no where to Ganguly as a captain. Please stop this unnecessary Ganguly bashing.
What is your views about Rahuls perfomance in bat as a Captain in Mahali test? Do you find any other true substitute of Ganguly as a Captain even in test cricket?
the author has carried out a thorough analysis to test the hypothesis whether ganguly should be part of the indian team or not.however there are a few key statistics and facts that the author seems to have ignored -- inadvertently or by design i do not know. the author should have provided an analysis of how other batsmen have fared pre-captaincy and during captaincy. captaincy in cricket is a very very hard job and it can affect your concentration and thus affect your batting. even the great steve waugh mr.iceman himself has been affected. also, india in the past has won a few matches abroad, in victories in SL, WI and England ganguly played a key innings. His batting has definitely been affected by the captaincy which is very demanding especially in test cricket. he is not technically as adept as dravid/tendulkar so even minor losses in concentration prove fatal for him. the author like many other seems to be on a witchhunt. india has played better cricket with saurav at the helm than at any other time. the so-called cricket experts simply dont understand test cricket.
Ramanujam get over your regionalistic mindset and look at the innings played by Ganguly today. Theres no doubt that at the moment Dravid is the best player in the team but its not necessary that the best player of a team should be the captain. As for ganguly not deserving a place in the team is just a load of garbage.
