First off, let me clarify one thing. It seems like my one-sided posts have created this impression of me that I hate Ganguly. I don’t.

I am a Ganguly-basher, just like I am a Sachin-basher or a Dravid-basher. I am just a passionate Indian cricket lover and I simply cannot see my team be so inconsistent. I have said ‘fire Sachin’ a lot of times, but I just have not put it down on paper. I have said ‘Dravid’s biggest trait is to put the ball back on the pitch and nothing else’ so many times, but I have never explicitly written about it. The same way, I have made comments about what I think are mistakes that Ganguly has made, but the only thing is, I have not been reserved in those comments, and have put them down on paper.

Ganguly is a terrific batsman. Both in the one dayers and in tests. Test matches of late have become quite fast-scoring affairs (heck, even England scored at 4.5+ RPO in the Lord’s test against the West Indians), and Ganguly is perfect at #5, especially if the top order has made the fielding side tired. He comes in and smashes a few around the park and makes the spinners pay.

Of course in one dayers, he was a great foil to the old version of Sachin when they used to open for India. Gangs would be the not-so-wild attacker, and Sachin would blow away the opposition. And that’s why he is perfect for #3 in one dayers, because if Sehwag gets out, he can play the ‘aggressive’ role and if Sachin gets out, he can be the not-so-wild attacker again.

He is also a great captain off the field. He works hard on motivating the players, and he works very closely with the support staff of coach, analyst, trainer, physio. He has a devil-may-care attitude and commands respect from the selectors as well as players. Part of it of course has to do with the number of wins he has behind his back. His success of course compounds the effect. But in general, he is not the shy, mild-mannered, keep everyone happy type of guy. If, in order to get something done, he has to blow someone off, he will. If he wants to back his player, he will go any length. When it came time to hit back at the Aussie media, he made sure he did so. In more ways than one.

He is also one of the better captains on the field. And this is where I tone down my impression of him. He has not done too many things that make sense. A lot of things he has done are ‘instinct-based’ and thus, do not make sense at the time he does it. Of course, with any risk, there is a chance of a good payout or being busted. And he has had a lot of good luck in those risky moves and they have paid off. And success breeds success, so he now has the confidence to make such instinctive moves more often and run away with it. I would like captains to make some bold moves when things go wrong. I would like captains to make some risky moves to counter a particularly sticky opposition player. But to make such moves as a routine, are not good long-term. Once again, I reiterate that he is a very good captain in general. The only chink I see on the field, is what I just mentioned.

And finally, the team (and squad) selection. The good thing about him is that he has always backed players that he thinks will be good for the future. He gave enough chances to Nehra after he was so-so to start with. He gave too many chances to Bhajji late last season when it was obvious that he was unable to bowl like he used to. He has seen what it is like to get dropped after one or two failures, so he will naturally not like it to happen to others. But how does he decide whom to pursue? Instincts play a huge role. What he sees in the nets, what he knows of the player from personal interaction, what the player does in the chances that he gets. But I have noticed, and maybe with a slight biased eye, that he has not really nurtured players who showed promise on the field. This is my thinking and it has come out in several posts in the form of playing favorites. But if you look at this post, you will see that some of the comments he makes don’t always make sense. How can one dayers determine who opens in tests? There are many such examples, which make me give him less than average score for team/squad selection sense.

But that does not mean I hate him. I really don’t. I am very happy for India that we found a captain like him. No one else in this team can fit that role. I don’t think so. Sachin was too mild. Of course, no one has else has been really tried. Dravid stood in for a few games, but I suspect he is not that outspoken and outwardly aggressive as Gangs is. I am glad that captaincy has not evidently put a lot of pressure on his performance as a player. He was never a good fielder and that he continues to be, but his batting has not deteriorated much. And he has created a nucleus of a team where now, because of all of them peforming, there is hardly a spot open in the XI. I am glad for that. I am glad that he has been able to stitch together a team that can win abroad. I am really happy about that, because that will shut a lot of critics up.

But as a passionate cricket fan, I will always find faults in him. I have a right to. That is the job of the crtics. I am a fact-based informed critic. I don’t know what goes on behind the scenes, and I have not played competitive cricket. But I know enough about it to make my comments. I have justification for what I think are his mistakes. Of course, if some journalist asks him a pointed question to clarify his stance or to defend his decisions, and it proves me wrong, I am the first one to admit it. If you don’t believe it, check this post out.

Hope this clarifies my stand. And hope you reached up to here in reading this extensive post :-)

Thank you for your time.