Sourav Ganguly has called finally called time on an incredible career that stretched over 15 years. But before he finally hangs up his boots he will play 4 test matches against Australia (at least two anyway). I know there has been a lot of debate over the past two years on whether Ganguly deserved his place in the team. And with all things connected with Indian cricket, this debate has seen its fair share of passion and emotions. But right now let us just hope that Ganguly can end a great career by doing well against the Australians. He deserves a farewell similar to what the Australians gave Steve Waugh.
He is going to be all fired up and I just hope that manages to put together some runs so that he gets to play the final test in Nagpur on merit rather than on sentiment. This is the first step in the dismantling on what is most probably the most celebrated batting middle order in cricketing history. Ganguly the batsman may not have contributed as much to that middle order as the likes of Tendulkar or Dravid or maybe even Laxman; but what Ganguly the captain did was to create an environment where these men could thrive. Its also easy to forget that it was under Ganguly that men like Yuvraj, Harbhajan, Zaheer Khan, Irfan Pathan and most importantly MS Dhoni took their first steps in international cricket. As Sanjay Manjrekar rightly put it- he gave India belief, and his cricket team perfectly epitomized the coming of age of India both as a nation and as a cricketing superpower. Ganguly also gave Indian fans some of our best moments- be it the incredible run to the 2003 World Cup final or the victories in Pakistan or best of all that incredible series in Australia in 2004. Amidst all this talk of his form, of his battle with Guru Greg Chappell, its easy to forget just how successful he made the Indian team- we hardly won away from India before him.
In the end, it will be great if Ganguly goes out the same way he came in way back in 1996- with a bang.
