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SPORTS: CRICKET
Combination Of Many Qualities
But captaincy is not all about sound and fury,
no matter if it's entertaining. Mike Brearley, who led England in 31 Tests
despite a career batting average of just 22, listed what a modern captain
should be: "Loving and tough, straightforward and crafty, ready to
gamble everything and wishing to have everything, generous and greedy,
trusting and suspicious." The greatest of captains manage to be all
of those things at the same time. The apprentices, Ganguly included, embrace
them sporadically.
GANGULY VERSUS THE SELECTORS
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HIS BOYS:
Yuvraj Singh (left) and Agarkar are Ganguly's pet candidates
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As captain Ganguly has
often driven the selectors crazy. The five-man committee has found
itself paying heed to the captain and then wondering why it even
bothered. For the Sri Lanka tri-series, Ganguly specifically singled
out Madhya Pradesh hard-hitter Amay Khurasia to replace the injured
Tendulkar. He was pulled out of English league cricket but played
in only two matches. Yuvraj Singh, rated highly by the captain,
was instead given plenty of chances to play himself into form. Despite
nothing to show from Zimbabwe, Ajit Agarkar made the Lanka tour
where he was a tourist, suffering from sunstroke while sitting in
the window seat of the aircraft to Colombo. "Sourav has left
us in the dark and without answers," says a selector. His captaincy
though seems a little more secure than his popularity. "This
is no time to change captains. What can he do if the batting lets
the team down?" says one selector. Another wants to give the
Kolkatan the long rope to see how he will fare on tougher overseas
tours.
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Anshuman Gaekwad, who has played under five India
captains and been coach to three, says Ganguly's biggest strength is his
aggression but would like him to be a little more tactically flexible.
Last year in the ICC Knock Out Trophy final, Gaekwad wanted Ganguly to
bowl Yuvraj Singh at Chris Cairns to make the tall New Zealander stretch
and put his weight on an injured knee. "Sourav thought that because
he played left-arm spinners so well so could Cairns and he didn't want
to try." Cairns won the title for New Zealand. Maninder Singh thinks
his handling of his second-string bowlers needs to be more thoughtful.
Bowlers define captains in two groups: those who give them fields they
want and those who don't. Azharuddin belonged to the former, particularly
with his favourite spinners, Tendulkar gave bowlers a couple of overs
headstart before setting his own positions and Ganguly is a fifty-fifty
man. He will go halfway but no more if it does not suit the strategy he
has in mind. He remains a leader driven largely by instinct-whether it
means changing tactics in the five minutes it takes to walk from dressing
room to the middle or a surprise declaration, like the one that caught
Zimbabwe off guard in the Delhi Test last year, when India were only 30-odd
ahead.
A captain's skill lies in knowing when to trust
common sense and strategy and when to go by gut feel. "You either
win or lose; I don't believe in draws," he says but victories, specially
overseas, are carved out by predictable things like long hours of occupying
the crease and being patient during bad sessions in the field.
Ganguly's supporters-and they do exist-believe
a longer spell and some maturity will take care of that. If Ganguly the
Test batsman survives till then. Going by his form, a minefield of trouble
awaits him in the middle. The slump is not a recent byproduct of Steve
Waugh's "disintegration" campaign. It has come over a two-season
period: in his past 10 Tests he has averaged 23.31, and hasn't scored
a 50 in his last five (AVE.13.33). Bedi believes, "His fallibility
as a batsman has been detected and he has not made much effort to rectify
his batting technique. After a few years, it happens to all batsmen and
then the strength of character takes you to the next stage." Ex-India
player Ashok Malhotra, who counts himself more a friend than a selector,
says, "He's too good a batsmen for us to be worried. He will find
a way."
It's been an adrenaline-charged first year and
today captain Ganguly has proved that he can go eyeball to eyeball with
any opposition and not take a backward step. To mature as a leader now
he must seek the middle ground between power and responsibility. He clearly
enjoys and is at ease with power. But in the Tests against Sri Lanka,
Sourav Ganguly, a central figure in a batting line-up with more reputations
than runs nowadays, must take on greater responsibility.
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