espnstar.com pays tribute to one of the best Indian cricketers who has decided to call it a day in 2008 - Sourav Ganguly.
By Rajarshi GuptaA glorious year for Indian cricket has been interjected with the end of an era, memories of the splendid times waning.Minutes before the last Australian wicket fell in Nagpur to allow India to take the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, cricket fans round the world were taken for a trip down memory lane when an irresistible, keen-eyed veteran started moving the field around the same way he led his team against the world champions back in the summer of 2001 for the first time.
Click here for Sourav's images
Only in Nagpur, it was to be the last, though not as captain. Sourav Ganguly, the legend with the bat and a general of men was being honoured in his last few moments as India cricketer, he was being cherished for the true leader he has been.When a sheepish, young man, with a glimmer of hope and shade of moustache walked into Lord's on a cold English afternoon, 12 summers back, experts had written him off before destiny shaped up.However, once he was done and began the journey back to the pavilion, the standing ovation and heart-warming complements announced the arrival of a master on the scene. Ganguly had met his tryst with destiny with a scintillating century on debut.Dada, as Ganguly came to be known in team circles faced some brunt. The reason? No one knows. He paid the price for speaking his mind out, for backing his young guns and mastering the art of captaincy in an age when the game was in crisis in India.Taking over the reins from Sachin Tendulkar in the Indian summer of 2000, Ganguly made his intentions known to the world.He scored runs, egged Virender Sehwag, Harbhajan Singh, Yuvraj Singh and Zaheer Khan to stretch their limits and put the sniggering Australians in place with a scintillating 2-1 win against Steve Waugh's men at home and frustrating Waugh with his own dose of mental disintegration.The Ganguly era saw India scaling new heights with an ease that the most ardent of fans in the country would not have dreamt of. Yes, the 2003 World Cup final loss would hurt Dada as would the drawn Test series Down Under when he could have, just could have led India to a sensational series win.Nothing, however, would hurt him more than the spat with Greg Chappell, the man who he brought on board as coach and the man who tried hard to get rid of India's most successful captain, for reasons other than cricket.Ganguly was beaten, bruised and shoved by sections which kept him away from the limelight. That is when the man struck back and how!He came back into the team through some solid domestic shows and punched his arrogance into runs, ending 2007 as the second highest run getter in Tests behind Jaques Kallis.It was finally in 2008, when Ganguly saw his end was near, an honourable one, just the way he led his team, just the way he played his game.Ganguly signed off with a gritty century and a fluent 85 in his last Test. A duck in his last innings would have left him shattered but the man would go back and fight that demon, like he has over the last glorious decade.
By Rajarshi GuptaA glorious year for Indian cricket has been interjected with the end of an era, memories of the splendid times waning.Minutes before the last Australian wicket fell in Nagpur to allow India to take the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, cricket fans round the world were taken for a trip down memory lane when an irresistible, keen-eyed veteran started moving the field around the same way he led his team against the world champions back in the summer of 2001 for the first time.
Click here for Sourav's images
Only in Nagpur, it was to be the last, though not as captain. Sourav Ganguly, the legend with the bat and a general of men was being honoured in his last few moments as India cricketer, he was being cherished for the true leader he has been.When a sheepish, young man, with a glimmer of hope and shade of moustache walked into Lord's on a cold English afternoon, 12 summers back, experts had written him off before destiny shaped up.However, once he was done and began the journey back to the pavilion, the standing ovation and heart-warming complements announced the arrival of a master on the scene. Ganguly had met his tryst with destiny with a scintillating century on debut.Dada, as Ganguly came to be known in team circles faced some brunt. The reason? No one knows. He paid the price for speaking his mind out, for backing his young guns and mastering the art of captaincy in an age when the game was in crisis in India.Taking over the reins from Sachin Tendulkar in the Indian summer of 2000, Ganguly made his intentions known to the world.He scored runs, egged Virender Sehwag, Harbhajan Singh, Yuvraj Singh and Zaheer Khan to stretch their limits and put the sniggering Australians in place with a scintillating 2-1 win against Steve Waugh's men at home and frustrating Waugh with his own dose of mental disintegration.The Ganguly era saw India scaling new heights with an ease that the most ardent of fans in the country would not have dreamt of. Yes, the 2003 World Cup final loss would hurt Dada as would the drawn Test series Down Under when he could have, just could have led India to a sensational series win.Nothing, however, would hurt him more than the spat with Greg Chappell, the man who he brought on board as coach and the man who tried hard to get rid of India's most successful captain, for reasons other than cricket.Ganguly was beaten, bruised and shoved by sections which kept him away from the limelight. That is when the man struck back and how!He came back into the team through some solid domestic shows and punched his arrogance into runs, ending 2007 as the second highest run getter in Tests behind Jaques Kallis.It was finally in 2008, when Ganguly saw his end was near, an honourable one, just the way he led his team, just the way he played his game.Ganguly signed off with a gritty century and a fluent 85 in his last Test. A duck in his last innings would have left him shattered but the man would go back and fight that demon, like he has over the last glorious decade.
