Bye -- The Aussie Way - Pinch Hitter

Bye -- The Aussie Way

Manoj Madhavan - Wednesday, October 01, 2008 12:13 PM

The argument continues. Should Sourav Ganguly be included in the team for the Border-Gavaskar series, because, remember, he is India's most successful captain, or should the selectors be ruthless and stick to their vision for a team of the future? Now, I would say our selectors should do what the Australians did to Steve Waugh. Unarguably one of the most respected cricketers in Australia, Waugh almost had a forced retirement when he led the team to India in 2004. This was the Aussie way of giving their hero a chance to announce his retirement and thus have an honourable exit.

 

I think we Indians too should do the same to Ganguly. Not just him, but even for the others in the Fabulous Four club. Given that all of them are on the edge of the end of their glorious careers, Ganguly seems to be the first one ready to walk out, followed closely by Dravid. We will have to wait for Kumble's turn, given that he is the captain of the team now. As for Sachin, given his reputation and the cult status he enjoys, I am sure he will get a chance to announce his retirement unless an injury forces an early exit.

 

My team for the Border-Gavaskar series would be

Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, VVS Laxman, Saurav Ganguly, Mahender Singh Dhoni, Anil Kumble, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Ishant Sharma, Rohit Sharma, Badrinath, Munaf Patel, Pragyan Ojha.

 

The question is: do we have the bench strength to replace these stalwarts? It is not an easy question. Indeed we need to groom youngsters like Rohit Sharma, Badrinath, Pragyan Ojha, Suresh Raina and the best way to do that, in my opinion, is to give them a chance to grow with our senior playes. So lets give Ganguly a final chance, for two reasons. One, India owe it to him, and then, it also gives us a chance to make use of his vast experience. What do you say? 
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4 Comment

From Sajith

October 1, 2008 1:33 PM
Twin I'm afraid I will have to disagree with your view. Lets not try and look to see what others have done in the past including the Aussies who are otherwise very calculating about such decisions as no doubt Ian Healy, Damien Martyn, Michael Bevan and others will testify. What we need to do is do what is right. The right thing to do in this case is to drop Ganguly. That is what is right for the team. Nobody has been a greater fan of Ganguly than I have been including during the time of the South Africa World Cup when everybody was writing him off. He is a fighter and has done much. Ganguly never blinks and we admire him for that. That said what he brings to the team has now diminished to the point that a replacement such as Badrinath, Kaif or Rohit Sharma will make a huge difference to the team. Ganguly's fielding has waned considerably (Dravid and Laxman remain amongst India's best slip fielders) and his batting continues to drop. Of course we must bid him adieu with all the respect that he commands. Perhaps a benefit match or something to that effect. But to let sentiment dictate decisions just before a pivotal series would be to repeat past mistakes.

From Pranav

October 1, 2008 2:36 PM
I'd agree, but for unsentimental reasons. I'm not a Ganguly fan and certainly wasn't opposed to his being dropped last time around. He deserved it. Indian cricket needed it. And he probably should not have been allowed back into the one-day squad -- though can't fault anyone for trying that, he was always a better ODI player than a Test batsman. But since his return he has proved himself in difficult conditions and has shown the steel and willingness to fight it out that was missing earlier. That was evident in Tests in SA and England, and in the last Test against SA earlier this year (the double hundred on a dead wicket against pakistan last year doesn't count for much). He deserves to play in Indian conditions for this series, i believe. In general, however, i'd say that the fab four have become the flab four, and like excess flab may need the surgeon's knife to be excised. No one, Tendulkar included (because a constantly injured Tendulkar on the fringes of the team is a distraction and a Damoclean sword hanging over his replacement -- as Vaughan was in the last Ashes), should be given the license to hang on till they want. They will all need to be nudged, but their exit can be graceful.

From Raja

October 2, 2008 12:41 AM
I guess the selectors listed to your positive thoughts and chose Ganguly. Let's see how Ganguly rewards his supporters..!!! Sajid: How are you mate..!!

From BL Nguyen

October 24, 2008 10:44 AM
S Waugh's last series was in 2003-04 on home soil. He was not particularly pushed, as he has scored three centuries in the 9 months before that, although it was against weak opposition

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