Lord Snooty gets the hot seat again ...

I love cricket and being a left hander myself, am a BIG fan of Saurav Ganguly. So, when Sourav Ganguly a.k.a "The Prince Of Calcutta" regained captaincy and a lot of my batchmates made snide remarks at the dinner table, i could not stop myself from jumping in and defending "The Tiger" .

I can't help but ask myself, are we a nation of thankless people? Have we forgotten this mans contribution to Indian cricket. Have we forgotten that he is the most successful captain India has ever had? The 2nd fastest and only the third player to score 10000 runs in ODI cricket. The man who by his sheer leadership skills put 'Steve Waugh's Invincibles' to shame after 16 consecutive test victories. Lets take criticisms against the 'Lord' and dissect them one by one.

He has not been scoring runs for the past two seasons

Fair enough, the statistics say so. But when have the statistics spoken the complete story. The following stats from Cricinfo.com may help shed some light.

Saurav's one day average batting at positions 1,3 ,4,5,6 have been 42.05 , 52.15, 24.84, 26.28, 7.50 respectively. Since the time he gave up his opening slot for the sake of the team(Rember Sehwag was not doing well down the order and since he clicked in the opening slot, Tendlya-Ganguly opening combo was broken), his averages started falling.

Given below are the series averages of sourav ganguly starting with the New zealand series in 2002-03 before the world cup. This is the time after he gave up his opening slot.

8.28 58.12 59.00 35.00 22.12 33.00 40.66 25 25.00 40.33 45.00 48.00 25.66 22.00 7.75 39.50 (BTW even these do not look pathetic as they are portrayed to be.)

Listed below are the series averages of the same player before the New Zealand series 2003

88.00, 39.40, 23.83, 63.33, 47.20, 37.80, 45.33, 21.28, 71.50, 49.40

Well, isn't the difference evident?? The averages are falling right? Or am in the only one who is seeing it? Agreed he has a weakness against the rising delivery, but then who does not. A short ball targetted at the rib cage can rattle anybody ... at times even 'The GOD' (Sachin). Saurav is not as gifted. But send him up the order when the ball is hard and he will play the ball above the infield and get useful runs. It is a big handicap for him to come down the order to a packed off side field with hardly any gaps. He has lost form and the pressure is tremendous. It is affecting his performance in Tests also. Problem is that the man who backs everyone, is finding himeself without any backers. What he needs is a couple of good knocks. Considering his performance in the county circuit i believe firmly that Saurav will start firing soon.

India has not done well as a team last season

Every one acknowledges that this is the best team we have had for a long team. The nucleus of the team one can safely say rank amongst the greatest Indian cricket has ever produced. But why blame Saurav alone?? What about the others who are not performing ? Will removing him solve the problem? Will the Non Performing Assets on the team suddenly start performing? What is needed is a bit of soul searching.

Captains have a shelf life

There are a few who believe captains have a shelf life of 3-5 years. Well, a certain Mr. Arjuna Ranatunga captained Srilanka for 10 years and his best years as captain were the last 3. So, I wonder if the 'shelf life' theory has any credibility.

Let's not get carried away. There are a few retired players who make bread and butter out of criticising the Indian team. These 'gentlemen' would do the same things as Saurav or the selectors if given a chance. Lets not pay too much attention to them. Some of the news channels and sports editors fall in the same category.

I would like to sign off with a quote by John Buchanan the Aussie Cricket coach. He said the following regarding Mathew Hayden's form. " Champions need to make a comeback at the highest level ". The author for one feels the same way about 'The Maharaj'. In a nutshell Ladies and Gentlemen, let's give the man a chance. Let him play a few series quietly, without additional pressure from the media. Let him gain the confidence back. Let - the 'Lord' rule.

cheers
'The Samurai'