The Hindu : Sport / Cricket : Just one knock to change his world

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Apr 01, 2005

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Sport - Cricket

Just one knock to change his world

By Stan Rayan

KOCHI, MARCH 31. Pictures of Sourav Ganguly in the media were just sad ones the last few days. The unshaven chin, the grim face and sad eyes all spoke a story.

One saw a different Ganguly at the Taj Malabar on Thursday evening. A very positive captain, a man who appeared quite pleased with the world.

If the pain of Bangalore was still in his heart, he did not show it. The lovely backwaters and the swaying palm fronds on Willingdon Island here, where Ganguly spent a lot of time this evening, have probably healed the wounds nicely.

Kochi has been a special place for Ganguly. Five years ago, he made his debut as Indian captain here, in the one-dayer against South Africa.

"I remember that very clearly," said Ganguly as his eyes lit up.

The Indian captain may have something special for Kochi in Saturday's One-day International against Pakistan. Ganguly is just 64 runs short of the 10,000-run landmark in ODIs.

Will he make it here?

"I hope so," said the Indian captain.

Well, only two batsmen - world record-holder Sachin Tendulkar (13,497 runs) and Inzamam-ul-Haq (10,631) - are above him in the 10,000-men club.

Interestingly, the Kochi match will see all the three in action. And there will be a world record too with every run scored by Tendulkar.

Many have been baying for Ganguly's blood the last few days. He may be the country's most successful captain, the man with the silken touch but all these seem to be a distant memory these days.

Ganguly went through a similar painful phase sometime in 2001 when he suffered a lean streak in his career.

Are there any lessons from 2001 which could probably come in handy now?

"Just hard work," said the captain.

If he does score the 64 runs on Saturday, it could just have a magical spell on his cricket and his career as captain.

Just one day and a nice knock will wipe away all those painful memories.

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