ganguly's so called 'unceremonious' exclusion from ipl-4 has once again initiated an age old debate...
when a player should hang his boots...?
the stakes in cricket has increased to such a level that of late, and not even at ipl only, there has been growing tendency to overstay the welcome... to stretch the sell-by date as much as possible... to squeeze every ounce of past laurels before being forced to say good bye and some don't even get that... they get 'rested' instead...
now i am of the opinion that a champion player should get the deserving send off respecting and befitting the services he rendered to his respective country...
but what if that champion player refuses to see the light...?
ideal situation is that selectors should keep the team's interest in mind more than anything else... that a player can never be bigger than team's cause or the game itself... but we don't live in perfect world...
so despite knowing the writing on wall... selector do hesitate to take that hard call... they don't want to be seen as villains... specially if that players in question has the potential to polarize fans and cricketing fraternity alike a la ganguly...
why not 'cap' the age then...?
lets say if 36 years is fixed for the retirement of a cricketer... everybody will know and reconcile to the fact that given date will be the last he will see his favorite player play... no over the top drama... no fuss...
selectors knowing the fateful date in advance cannot shrug their shoulders that they have been caught off guard by the mass exodus...
selectors knowing that the end-date is nearing can plan and groom players in advance without much bothering about the backlash of untimely 'rest' they will be forced to give some of the 'champion' players...
no deserving player will see his youth and prime form getting killed coz one 'great' player thought that he can still continue to milk his 'services'...
why not...?
can we 'cap' the age instead...?
shared by straight point on Sunday, January 16, 2011
another spineless decision from (kolkata) knight riders...
shared by straight point on Monday, July 27, 2009
it seems the management of kkr want to shift all blame on john buchanan shoulders coz its suits them...while conveniently ignoring that ganguly too was the part of the problem kkr faced...
when kkr were in need of ganguly being gracious in accepting the reality and play kind a mentor role being the 'icon'...he enacted the role of 'soft victim' perfectly...he didn't do anything to diffuse the fire in fact aggravated it by playing the soft victim...and ensured that kkr remain in the pool of their own mess...for his own good...
after the sacking of buchanan...i thought kkr are onto undoing lots of wrongs they committed in last version of ipl...will start with clean slate...but if this news of ganguly almost certain to be leading kkr in third version of ipl is to be believed...they are back to their spineless worst...
it shows that more than cricket...their focus is on marketing...and more they will remain in news for whatever reasons the more marketable they will be without winning anything of note...
let him go...
shared by straight point on Wednesday, May 20, 2009
tho i doubt dada is relishing playing there...we as fans should enjoy and savour the moment...
as today is the last time...we all will see ganguly performing in a competitive setup...in all its probability...
kolkota knight riders are never gonna be the same...the way things has gone for them...one can see lots of changes in next season...and i am afraid dada won't be part of them...
before the weight of 'icon' sink him further...let him rest in the comfort of his own...
kolkata...let your beloved icon go...let dada go...
why ishant won't cut his hair short...
shared by straight point on Saturday, February 28, 2009
coz he thinks if he will cut his hair short...wickets won't come...
but sehwag is street smart...
his reasoning... "if there won't be any number on shirt they won't ask to change it..."
simple yet effective...that's sehwag for you...
dada talked on superstitions of his team mates on farhan akhtar's talk show - oye! its friday...
here's the video...
...you can catch full episode here...its worth watching (tip: see from part 4 onwards...)
अब गांगुली की बारी / now its ganguly's turn...
shared by Kinka on Monday, December 08, 2008
हाल में ही ऑस्ट्रेलिया के स्पिन गेंदवाज शेन वॉर्न की "शेन वॉर्न'स सेंचुरी" पुस्तक प्रकाशित हुई है, जिसमें दुनिया भर के लगभग सौ क्रिकेटरों के बारे में अच्छा लिखा और सराहा गया है। परंतु पू
उनहें अपने पूरे क्रिकेट करियर में गांगुली न तो विलक्षण कप्तान लगे, न ही उनहें उनकी बल्लेबाजी में
शेन वॉर्न एक महान खिलाड़ी रहे
शेन वॉर्न ने अपनी पुस्तक में गांगुली की आलोचना करने का एक नाया
वाह शेन वाह …वो सभी कप्तान जो सफल हुए हैं क्या अपने बलबूते पर ही सफल हुए हैं?
अब आपके स्टीव वॉ को ही ले लें, यदि वो सफल कप्तान थे तो उनके पास भी तो हे
मुझे तो यह भारतीयों के शानदार हो
आपका क्या विचार है?
(English readers please...)
according to him throughout his career he found ganguly neither a good batsman nor a great captain...infact he has given space to ganguly in his book as an afterthought...
shane warne is legend...and has proven his ability through his magical and mesmerising spin bowling...but he should have given it a careful thought before pointing finger on ganguly that whether the criticism is right?
shane warne's argument that even if ganguly was successful bcoz he was lucky to have champion players like sachin, dravid, lakshman, kumble...is 'unique' in itself...
brilliant shane...do you mean to say that all captain who has been successful were/are successful coz of their own efforts only?
now if we take the example of your own captain steve waugh...he was successful captain, as many believe, then even he had great players like hayden, ponting, macgrath, including yourself...if not for the assembly of so many great players in one team then waugh would have been as successful? oz still would have been world champion?
i think india's consistent team performance and our equally consistent challenge to your team has frustrated you to come up with this unsuccessful attempt to dismiss ganguly's contribution as player and most importantly as captain...
what do you think?
a milstone and an embarrassment after...
shared by straight point on Friday, October 17, 2008
congrats sachin...!! for surpassing yet another milestone...
but...wtf...with fire works...
i don't mind people standing in ovation of great moment...players shaking hands...
but that was embarrassingly f@ckin long...
what if ganguly or sachin lose concentration...?
spare a thoght for the job they have in hand...
no matter what the milestone is...
at 174/4 india is trying to clear the mess...after top order spectacularly ejaculated prematurely...
and we have stoppage of this never ending fireworks...
no wonder we praise personal milestones more keenly than the cause of team...
Update 1:
dada gets there too...congratulations dada!!
but, as per our sources close to dada...he is seriously considering putting PCA to court for the humiliation he had to suffer after reaching the milestone...and singling him out for the rough treatment...
no fire works! not a single one!!
Update 2:
Tendulkar out!! guess who took his wicket?
peter siddle...the debutant... !!
sachin doing everything he can...to float this now popular selection scheme...
debutant-gets-his-scalp
an ode to dada...from a not so satisfied fan...
shared by straight point on Wednesday, October 08, 2008
only the other day i commented at BCC! that dada's name should be saurav gone-googly
everytime you think he is gone...comes the googly...
but not this time...
if i close my eyes and try to visualize dada...the first image which comes to my mind is of his uninhibited celebrations after winning natwest trophy at lords...
everything that needs to be said about him has been said and covered very well by friend soulberry...
all i want to say is...go dada go...write your own farewell script...the way, only you can...
i don't want to see you going without giving it a fight...
i wanna see you going with your chin up...and smiling...
the only grudge is that who will compassionate kolkotta fans follow now...?
even the larger than life stature of ganguly in kolkotta was not enough to inspire youngsters from there to aspire the coveted cap of india...and his absence will create huge void in west bengal cricket...there is simply no legacy...
first time a 'dada' will leave without leaving behind family tree of sons and grandchildren...
on another hand a question...which is refusing to go down...is...
are you ok with a player announcing his retirement before the start of an important series?
Leading from Non-Striker end...
shared by straight point on Saturday, May 17, 2008
thats what ganguly did when he showed his true colors again in yesterday's match between MIs and KKRs...
by the time more than half the KKR team was back in dug out...he just played around 10 balls...
End of over 11 (2 runs) - Kolkata Knight Riders 46/6 (RR: 4.18)
AB Agarkar
10* (9b 2x4)
DJ Thornely
1-0-2-0
SC Ganguly
8* (12b 1x4)
RR Raje
1-0-9-1
he came in 3rd over...at the fall of 1st kkr wicket...and by the time 6the wicket went down in 10th over he merely played 10 balls!!
now thats something strangely interesting...
with wicket was seaming and swinging he should have taken it on himself to lead from front and play as much deliveries as possible to utilize the vast experience he has earned playing international cricket since ages...
what we saw was totally opposite...
he seemed happy to stay on non striker end...
but then...its ganguly for you...
Whats wrong...
shared by straight point on Monday, January 21, 2008
...with most of us actually...
why we cant see the reasons...why we cant see beyond geographical boundaries...
why we cant see why ganguly got dropped...are we watching different game?
even in tests one could hear the grunts of bowlers...seeing ganguly escorting the balls to boundary...seeing a run getting converted into twos and twos into threes...same when he was running between wickets...but only in reverse...
he was always like this...they will argue...
but the difference is that when we can somehow ignore these in tests (though i am not advocating it...) but in ODIs where the difference of win and loss is getting narrower...when the series will be played in oz...with arguably the biggest grounds...where boundaries and sixes are not going to be as easy to score as elsewhere...where you can not be hidden in the field...infact in all probability will be exposed...what options selectors were left with...
if not for anything we must give credit to selectors for not getting carried away by our perth win and awarding berth-on-perth performances...as a goodwill gesture...
it would have been suicidal...
without even going in for young vs old theory...never have been a team india selection where the statement is as clear as this...that other than the primary skills...secondary skills are as important if not decisive...
what one expect from selectors now on is consistency...and the guts to go on with this vision...not panic at the drop of hat...like last time what happened in SA...be prepared to face...to embrace some defeats at the expense of re-building the nucleus of ODI side...
coz for me...the best symptom of any organization going wrong is when it starts embracing populism...
cricket without balls
shared by straight point on Saturday, December 29, 2007
although i wanted to be proved wrong but somehow i didn't see the fightback coming...when i saw so many peoples airing their optimism that we will go for win...manage at least draw...put up resounding fight to salvage some pride...and i was skeptic coz there were no grounds based on what i saw in first innings...and i was not wrong...
i pity kumble...i really feel for him...you wont see spinner taking five wickets on first day of test match against australia and that too on their soil...
for all the efforts he put up he deserved more...he deserved more from his batsmen who he thought were his master cards...his strength....but he was left to throw his hand in despair coz not a single batsmen looked to guts it out there...there was no one standing to be counted...to fight the 'demons in the pitch' which was more subcontinentish pitch...but as the match progressed we saw that demons were elsewhere...they were in minds...
don't look anywhere than dravid to understand the demons i am talking about...time has come for india to decide what to do of him...he is clearly struggling for his form...his approach...and more importantly his mental strength he was used to known for...will we keep on going for him in the faith that he is just an innings away from his previous best...but somehow i don't see it coming...in these days of back to back test matches...where is the time...but if i am kumble i would have one to one talk with him...this is the time when champion player like him need support.. i would make him feel wanted in current setup...i would not let him fade away in his wilderness so easily...i would give him at least another test...but with an ultimatum...
if a batsman who is stated to be 'in the form of his life' comes to crease like this...there was no body language...no air of confidence...and plays the way he played (and i am not even talking about his scores) it would be better he is confided to the comforts of dressing room...coz by sitting there he served india far better...all other guys were on their toes thinking that there's one sitting outside who can replace them...
it was only Ganguly (and to some extent sachin) who came unscathed and looked at par...special mention must be made to gangly who many thought (uncle included, who famously said that aussies will be having orgasmic pleasure by seeing him coming to bat) that he will be stream rolled by aussies etc etc...but he just refused to lie down...played his shots and remarkably rotated the strike which he is not known for...its not coincidence that only time india looked in control (batting wise) was when ganguly and sachin were batting together...
the fact that aussies hardly crossed 350 in both innings and yet they won by more than 300 runs speaks volume about the 'efforts' of our famed batting lineup...was that a pitch where our illustrious batting lineup could not score even 200 in both innings?? are we living in dreamland where our batsmen score far heavily than in reality...?? are we expecting too much from these lions-on-paper batsmen??? we must look within and search for the right answers...this was by far the worst performance we came up with in recent times...
we will have to find solutions and that too quickly...it would be very interesting couple of days in indian dressing room and specially for kumble of what he comes up with...to counter this 'freezing attitude' in our batting...next couple of days will give us an idea how kumble has taken this defeat and what combinations he would come up with...
coz another bad day in the office and we can safely say tata to this series...
i would go for full leather and would field
jaffer/dk
sehwag
laxman (coz he looked good for more, so no. 3)
sachin
gangly
Dravid (if he has to bat slow better be at this position but as i said with an ultimatum)
dhoni /(yuvraj in case DK gets opening slot)
zahir
rp
kumble
harbhajan (to share burden of kumble i wont place rookie here at this moment)
what will be your final xi...
