In this post, I will be talking about a captain who transformed the way the Indian cricket team is viewed across the world, who transformed the mindset of the players themselves, who transformed the perception of every Indian who has followed the game over the last 90 years and who was instrumental in bringing in lot of young talents.
He is no one but the probably the best Indian captain over the last 35 years of me watching the game.
He is the one and only Saurav Ganguly.
Extraordinary claim
Yes I understand that when someone reads this line, it might strike them as outrageous. Some probably will think that I am mad and I absolutely don’t know what am I talking about. Some will probably showcase Dhoni’s World Cup wins, Kohli’s Australian series win, Kapil’s 1983 World Cup, Gavaskar’s WC win in 1985 and other wins about other captains.
Yes all of them are true. Ganguly does not have any such win to be considered as the best Indian captain. Nonetheless, I will strive my utmost to convince atleast a few.
By the way, I am only talking about the last 35 years. The time from when I started to follow the game. I absolutely do not have any idea about Pataudi or Wadekar about whom the people belonging to that era have lot of good things to say. Also, it will be unfair to compare captains so many generations apart. Already 35 years is a couple of generation but nevertheless, it is reasonable to compare captains across these couple of generations.
Multiple books speaks about a divided team
I have read quite a few books that were written by some of the former players. It includes Straight from the heart by Kapil Dev, Sanjay Manjrekar’s Imperfect. Saurav Ganguly’s A century is not enough, Laxman’s 281 and beyond. Apart from these, there were innumerable number of articles in various publications. In all the publications, almost everyone talks about some kind of rift within the team throughout their playing career. East vs West, South vs North, senior vs junior etc.
Infact, Manjrekar even goes on to write that the Mumbai players, when it comes to Ranji trophy were much more motivated than while playing for the country. He also adds that the players from the north, especially the seniors, expected everyone to address them with respect. Ganguly & Laxman writes that the players were more worried about their individual contribution than the team’s cause partly because of the less chances newcomers are given and partly because they were not at all comfortable when they played because of the bigger names in the team.
Laxman writes that whenever he was dropped, he didn’t really know the reason and no one bothered to tell him why was he was dropped and what are the areas that he needs to improve. From all these accounts, it seems that the Indian cricket team of the 80s and 90s were very much individual driven rather than a collective effort driven towards a common cause.
How Ganguly changed this division
When Ganguly became the captain he did not care about which state or zone is a player from. If he sees talent, he supported them all the way until they realised their potential. He ensured that the newcomers are integral to the overall planning and that they are given adequate space to express themselves. All kinds of divisions north/west, senior/junior were all eradicated.
Tumultuous period when Ganguly took over
Everyone who has followed the game is well aware of the difficult phase when Ganguly became the captain. It was year 1999 when Indian cricket was rocked by the match fixing scandal. A few players including Azharuddin was implicated in fixing games. I do not want to get into merits or demerits of the findings. A lot of fans of the game lost their trust on the team and stopped watching the game. Every game was viewed with suspicion. The shadow of match-fixing was always hanging on every game played after that.
Secondly, it was also the year when Sachin Tendulkar resigned from captaincy. This must not be viewed as a non-event because Tendulkar was thought to be someone who could do nothing wrong. The day he took over the captaincy, most of the Indians felt that good times are around the corner and that India will win a lot of games, both tests & ODIs. He was thought to be the messiah for the entire game in the country. Expectations rose even further when Kapil Dev became the coach of the team captained by Tendulkar. When such a player was not able to handle the pressure of captaincy, naturally, every Indian was dejected and a feeling of dread swept across the nation.
When Ganguly became The Captain
It was under such depths of despair did Ganguly took over the captaincy. Immediately, he moulded the team into a fighting unit. He placed a lot of importance of winning outside the country. He led from the front like the 144 he scored in Brisbane. Ganguly also ensured he gave opportunities to youngsters who turned out to be match winners. He brought the best out of Dravid, Laxman & Sehwag who won many games during Ganguly’s tenure. His inspired move to ask Sehwag to open, Dravid to keep wickets proved to be brilliant decisions.
After more than 16 years, the team went onto win games in West Indies, England, Australia & Pakistan. I do agree that except for Pakistan, he did not win any series in the above mentioned countries but statistics do not always convey the real picture.
Statistics is not the correct benchmark
If statistics is the sole criteria to decide who the best captain was, then Ricky Ponting will be the best captain the game of Cricket has ever seen because he was the most successful captain with over 67% winning rate. Does this convey the true story? No. Ponting was not the best captain even within Australia. Ponting had the services of Warne, McGrath, Hayden, Gilchrist, Brett Lee, Damien Martyn, Langer and Ponting himself. You don’t need a captain to manage these brilliant players. They know what they are required to do. It was Allan Border & Mark Taylor who build the Australian team from the despair of 1985. Steve Waugh & Ponting merely inherited a brilliant side on the cusp of glory. In much the same way did Richards from Clive Lloyd.
Here I would like to equate Ganguly with Lloyd & Border in that he brought the best out of Dravid, Laxman, Sehwag, Yuvaraj, Harbhajan, Zaheer & even Tendulkar himself. He was instrumental in the team winning overseas which was always considered a bridge too far to cross.
It takes lot of efforts for a captain to mould a team in a diverse country like ours and convert them into the top two cricket playing nations. Ganguly, in my book will always be the best captain Indian cricket has seen.
What do you think of this tribute to Ganguly? If you do think that Dhoni or someone else is a better captain, leave your comments.