NEW DELHI: He reached the summit, only to slip, almost into oblivion. It was nothing but his contribution in the past that hauled him back into the reckoning. And now he lives to fight his battles alone, ready to play under any captain, prepared to bat at any position that serves the team's interests best.

Sourav Ganguly's gait is contrived. He makes an effort to give the impression of a mind at peace, but within lies unease, and a turmoil that jolted his career a few months ago. It is yet to be overcome, his return to the team notwithstanding. The unsavoury episode involving him with Greg Chappell is history as far as the two are concerned. "Past is past and I'm looking ahead," he affirmed.

Captaincy

He is part of the team, still, but not the leader anymore. "Captaincy is not everything. It is an honour that everyone dreams of and I enjoyed every bit of it. It is something that I did for five years. But then one can't just keep thinking about it," he said.

Captaincy, even if not everything, meant a lot to Ganguly. "It was a huge honour. I think I should consider myself lucky to have stayed captain for such a long duration." But times have changed for Ganguly, the most successful captain Indian cricket has seen.

Bumpy journey

With the knives out, Ganguly found his comeback journey quite bumpy and hazardous. Returning to domestic cricket in order to prove his fitness and regain his form was a process that saw Ganguly refreshing his past memories. There is a marked increase in his visits to the gym and of course his resolve to make his point greater, only time seems to be running out fast for him as Indian cricket propels itself forward on the course dictated by a professional team management that is ruthless when it comes to setting yardsticks.

In his 10th year in international cricket, Ganguly, 35, was seen in a new avatar — batting all-rounder. At least, that is what the selection committee chairman, Kiran More, wanted us to believe. "Looking back, I think I should have bowled more during my career."

But what stopped him? "Maybe the situations did not demand me to bowl. I honestly never thought about this aspect. Maybe I was too involved with my captaincy."

Hurt

Losing captaincy must have hurt Ganguly, as it hurt many in the past, including Sunil Gavaskar, Kapil Dev and Mohammad Azharuddin, but he took a philosophical view by confessing that he now had "more time" for himself.

His cricket has not seen any change either in the time that he lost his captaincy, and subsequently his place in the team. "I still want to play for India. I still prepare the same for a match."

What lies ahead? "Well, time will tell. My motto is simple: To keep on playing for India as long as possible."

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