Last week I read in the newspapers that former Indian skipper Sourav Ganguly who was left red faced after he went unsold in the Indian Premier League’s (IPL) auction held January, may get an opportunity to finally play for Kochi Tuskers Kerala as a replacement player for one of their injured players Steve Smith. Ganguly aka Dada in the previous three editions, captained Kolkata Knight Riders who under his leadership went from bad to worse with each season of the IPL. Even Dada’s performance was nothing to write home about.
So, although it was a bit sad but definitely not a surprise when Ganguly’s name was called out at the auctions and no body showed any interest. The team owners were very clear in what they wanted— players who can hit the ball hard and were young.
Dada surely qualifies for the former but at 37 fails miserably in the latter. I would also like to add that performance is undeniably more important than age, that is why players like Tendulkar and Warne, who are older than Dada are still playing in the IPL and playing well.
Perhaps, this is the reason that veteran player like Anil Kumble who had a sublime three seasons with Royal Challengers Bangalore turned chief mentor of the team and saved himself from any embarrassment.
But it seems, dada’s arrogance had the better of him as he refused a similar offer from KKR. Instead he went a step ahead and put himself in the top most category i.e. the most expensive category of players demanding $400,000. Utter foolishness!
An seasoned campaigner like him should have known better. With his years of experience in one days and tests he knew that T20 is an explosive version of the game much faster than both the formats that he excelled at. And everybody cannot be a master at everything and there is no shame in admitting it.
Ganguly should have been humble enough to first demand a much lower price and if he found no takers, take on the job of KKR’s mentor or maybe just avoid IPL altogether.
Its discouraging to see a former captain of India waiting to replace someone in a team or maybe out of sympathy get selected in a squad. He does not deserves it neither he requires it.
But as the popular Sanskrit saying goes -- “Vinash Kalay, vipreet Budhi" meaning when god wants your times to be hard, he just distorts your thinking process.
So, while Ganguly till last week may have played for Kochi, a news report published a couple of days back suggests that the Bong may have lost a realistic chance of playing this year according to the IPL rule book.
Kochi wanted Ganguly as a replacement but the rule book states that, a player can be replaced at the same or lesser price than the player to be replaced. So while Smith was purchased by Kochi for $200,000 Ganguly's base price was $400,000.
Surprisingly, Ganguly's base price, initially, was $200,000. But former Indian skipper, along with a few other players, including Rahul Dravid, had increased it to $400,000. Vinash kalay, vipreet buddhi indeed!
Some say if he had not done that, Dada could have easily walked into the Kochi team and fulfilled his dream of playing in the IPL-4.
But seriously, is this the way one of the most successful cricketing captains of India would like to get selected—by replacing an injured player.
Would he feel the same passion and confidence of a player for whom team owners fought over? Wouldn’t his self-respect get a blow and would the fans be proud of him?
Well, as a cricket lover and dada fan I personally would never want to see him play like this. Kept as a reserve with nobody bothering about him even after the tournament commenced days ago and now out of the blue I should go gung ho because he got a chance to replace an injured player.
No way dada, YOU DESERVE BETTER!!!
