Ganguly Vs Dada ~ Cricket Bakchod

Pune vs Mumbai, the Maharashtra Derby. Sachin vs Saurav. Ambani vs Sahara. As is usual in the IPL, this was a game of many head to heads.

This is Dada at the toss: (Source: Cricinfo match commentary)

"The pitch looks good, the ball comes on to the bat and 160-170 is achievable."

This is Dada in the post match presentation: (Source: Cricinfo match commentary)

"This was not an easy wicket, the ball did not come on to the bat. We lost a few wickets early, when I got out was the turning point of the game."

Forget about the game, Dada's credibility for his future commentary stints took a nosedive. I was pretty sure that Harbhajan and Dada had entered an agreement before the game to criticize the pitch as the only face saving way to explain their inept batting performances. From the evidences on TV, I didn't see one ball keep alarmingly low or move in the air or turn sharply. Batting of Mithun Manhas and Bhuwanesh Kumar proved beyond doubt that this was more about batting ineptitude than just a bad pitch.

Ganguly's attitude is a tale of two eras. That of before and after the Chappell fall out. Or, as I like to say it, the pre and post Dadagiri era. Ganguly in the pre-Dadagiri era was still a hard nosed cookie. There have been rumors of him refusing to be the twelfth man or carry drinks right from him junior/under-16 days. Later on, he popularly earned the sobriquet of "Lord Snooty" from Freddie Flintoff when the two shared the dressing room for Lancashire. But that was more of a cultural mix up than anything else (much like the Shilpa Shetty episode on The Big Brother).

After getting dropped from the Indian team (deservingly so), in came the Dadagiri era. (Did it coincide with what is called the attitude era in WWE wresting? okay lets leave that). It was my way or highway from here on. Dada realized his Bengal power and a certain CPI party member even raised a question in the parliament about Ganguly's place in the team. After the comeback, Ganguly would continue to have a good batting average but unsurprisingly winning fewer and fewer matches since he would be mostly content to just keep his place in the side. Before all the Bengalis start shouting, I do remember some of his important test innings from this period. His innings in South Africa, His double hundred against Pakistan and the one he played again against South Africa on a rank turner in Kanpur. But these were not innings where he had to make a self vs team choice. His divisive influence in the 2007 world cup was apparent when despite being a senior player he was content on just doing enough with the bat to retain his place. In that disastrous match against Bangladesh his slow batting (66 of 129 balls) was mostly responsible for India's low total and eventual defeat (probably he had realized that we being a stat obsessed nation can't blame the highest scorer of the game for losing that match http://www.espncricinfo.com/wc2007/engine/current/match/247464.html)

His real Dadagiri came to the fore in dressing rooms where he was not made the captain. From Team India to Team KKR, if you don't make Dada the captain, you can't hope to have a cohesive team. Making Dada the captain of Pune Warriors mitigates this issue but his attitude of him being beyond questioning still remains, and despite showing some initial form looks bound to eventually keep Pune Warriors out of the playoffs race.

Today as I wait for the Dada homecoming match at the Edens, I hope that he for once can just be Ganguly. Pune tonight just want Dada to be their inspirational leader on the field. He still has the natural stroke playing instincts left in him. He can be a floater or a lower order batsman who can just express himself with his shot making. Here's hoping for the victory of a cricketing brain over the political brain.

Sincerely.

A Saurav Ganguly fan.

- rajesh@cricketbakchod.com