the Second Coming of the MahaRaj
Vengaskar, Chairman of Selection Panel : ""He has played well in the Tests and it might be a good time to revive the old partnership between him and Tendulkar at the top of the order in the One Day team." Sourav has forced his way back to the one day team now! And how?
Take this! Ganguly ended the Test series (comeback series after a year) as the highest run scorer for India. No Indian batsman-neither the world’s greatest Sachin Tendulkar (199) nor Rahul "The Wall" Dravid (125) or the Very Very Special Laxman (180)-could improve on it. Ganguly’s 214 runs (average: 42.80) will remembered as one of the more significant batting performances in Indian cricket, in what was otherwise a dismal toothless pathetic unbecoming embarrassing display by India in the South Africa tour.
His arrival wasn’t marked by joy or euphoria as now, rather he was greeted with skepticism and cynical laughs: India had just been battered in the One-day series and his recall was seen more as an appeasement ploy. He was up against not just against the South African pace attack, but against a coach who had master minded his expulsion , a captain who sneaked into his shoes, neither of whom wanted him back.
Worse, nobody really believed he would last long on the hard and bouncy pitches against express speed and raw aggression. So while the Indian team floundered, and the world laughed, Sourav was scripting one of the greatest comebacks in cricket history. He did get hit by the rising ball in virtually every match, but he also made sure his batting was a hit too. He took blows on his body, on his shoulder ,on his elbow, his helmet broke the first delivery he faced in the second innings of the last test. He flinched almost every time but he didn’t look harried or uncomfortable; if anything he looked much more determined and eager to keep going.
This is a success of one man's will power steeped against every odd. This second coming, of course, wasn’t easy: it has come after months of immense pain, tribulations and a million doubts. Every single former cricketer and expert was absolutely sure that he was finished as a player; he alone believed that he still had a few days left in him.
All he had was one thing, but had loads of it : self belief.
The game is not yet over, Mr. Chappel... he has just begun!
Take this! Ganguly ended the Test series (comeback series after a year) as the highest run scorer for India. No Indian batsman-neither the world’s greatest Sachin Tendulkar (199) nor Rahul "The Wall" Dravid (125) or the Very Very Special Laxman (180)-could improve on it. Ganguly’s 214 runs (average: 42.80) will remembered as one of the more significant batting performances in Indian cricket, in what was otherwise a dismal toothless pathetic unbecoming embarrassing display by India in the South Africa tour.
His arrival wasn’t marked by joy or euphoria as now, rather he was greeted with skepticism and cynical laughs: India had just been battered in the One-day series and his recall was seen more as an appeasement ploy. He was up against not just against the South African pace attack, but against a coach who had master minded his expulsion , a captain who sneaked into his shoes, neither of whom wanted him back.
Worse, nobody really believed he would last long on the hard and bouncy pitches against express speed and raw aggression. So while the Indian team floundered, and the world laughed, Sourav was scripting one of the greatest comebacks in cricket history. He did get hit by the rising ball in virtually every match, but he also made sure his batting was a hit too. He took blows on his body, on his shoulder ,on his elbow, his helmet broke the first delivery he faced in the second innings of the last test. He flinched almost every time but he didn’t look harried or uncomfortable; if anything he looked much more determined and eager to keep going.
This is a success of one man's will power steeped against every odd. This second coming, of course, wasn’t easy: it has come after months of immense pain, tribulations and a million doubts. Every single former cricketer and expert was absolutely sure that he was finished as a player; he alone believed that he still had a few days left in him.
All he had was one thing, but had loads of it : self belief.
The game is not yet over, Mr. Chappel... he has just begun!
posted by warrior_poet at 1/07/2007 03:11:00 AM
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