The Hindu : Sport : Ganguly's batting form is cause for concern

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Mar 29, 2005

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Ganguly's batting form is cause for concern

More than most, watching him has been distressing. If he was never beautiful, it would not really matter so much, just another batsman out of form. But he was evocative, a cool stylist, as if he was batting on an Armani catwalk, or auditioning his work for a gallery. He didn't need to be watched, his timing was so clean it could be listened to. It seems so long ago.

If once as batsman Sourav Ganguly carried with him a certain insouciance, now to the crease he brings apprehension, like some bewildered actor for whom familiar lines have suddenly become foreign. No performer ever believes he has lost his art, for it goes contrary to every instinct they have owned. It will come back, he will tell himself, and it might, but will it ever be the same? It is hard to inspire confidence when you own so little of it.

Since the 2003 Brisbane Test, the occasion of his last century, his average (till the Bangalore Test began) was 36.06 and V.V.S. Laxman's was 35.30. During that same period Virender Sehwag averaged 67.15, Sachin Tendulkar 70.29 and Rahul Dravid 80.33. Of course, we can manipulate statistics to make him look slightly more respectable, but whichever way we look at them they are unflattering.

In a dreadful irony, Ganguly has helped create new standards for his team but hasn't kept up with them. If once he inspired his team by demanding more from it, now it deserves more from him. Team success has somewhat obscured his form and his record-setting captaincy has protected him from harsher scrutiny. But eventually on the field the distinctions between rookie and leader blur: all men must pull their weight. A team together must raise itself.

Perhaps, of course, we are making too much of it all and a tall score is around the corner, but at 23 fickle form is more easily explained away than at 32. He must know, too, that to shrug off the captaincy in an attempt to re-find form puts his place in the team in jeopardy. It is an awkward time for a decent man.

But as captain more is asked of Ganguly than with the bat. As a team also India has somewhat slithered out of greatness' embrace. A World Cup final place, and later a drawn series in Australia and victory in Pakistan gave this team an impetus it has since partially squandered.

In the Test arena it seems unfair to be critical of a team that has notched up reasonable wins against South Africa and drawn the series with Pakistan and lost only to Australia, but any judgement of Ganguly's India depends on the standards it set for itself. Is it truly a better team than a year ago? Is "about the same" considered progress? Are we closer to Australia, the ultimate benchmark? Teams, after all, earn greatness only by demanding more from themselves.

Uninspiring

In one-dayers there is no argument, for only nine of 32 matches won against respectable opposition since the World Cup is uninspiring. If we have rightfully enveloped Ganguly with praise for the team he helped construct, then in all fairness he deserves inspection when the process stagnates. Not every scrutiny comes in the guise of an agenda.

We tread softly with Ganguly because he is a man for whom we carry a powerful affection. His return from anonymity caught our fancy, his quirky rebelliousness refreshed the senses, his firm rejection of parochial selection and massaging of young talent won our respect. India's rise has not only been by his hand but through a confluence of factors, but his maverick nature has assisted greatly our rescue from mediocrity.

Ganguly also has our sympathy for being captain of India exhausts the body and wearies the mind and he has been inadequately celebrated for the stamina he has displayed. As a nation we take our toll on captains, and whether the desire Ganguly brought to his job has eroded only he knows. But he requires it now. A huge effort has taken India to the cusp of greatness, and only a muscular resolve will take it further.

John Wright is leaving and the new coach will need time to find his feet. In a year's time or so, India will begin its cycle of foreign tours, one last chance for an older brigade within the team to imprint their greatness in a foreign land. It requires a captain of great energy, of unwavering commitment, of bold ambition, uncluttered mind and adequate form. It requires a man Ganguly partially once was and he must ask himself whether he can be that again. A feisty man must now produce his final surprise.

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