The Dada of Indian cricket

This is a book written by a sports aficionado and Sourav Ganguly fan, who is also a blogger and digital marketing expert with Infosys. Hence the book is comprehensive, anecdotal, provocative and full of meticulously researched statistics. It is a delightful read — racy and gripping — as the author, Saptarshi Sarkar, unflinchingly examines all the controversies in Sourav Ganguly’s exciting career, including the bare-chested celebration after India’s win at the Lord’s, the trimming of the grass just before the Nagpur Test match against Australia and, above all, Dada’s contentious relationship with India’s coach from 2005 to 2007, Greg Chappell.

There is a full chapter on Sourav “Controversy” Ganguly which covers various aspects of the player’s life — from his international debut in Australia in 1992 when rumours were spread that he was arrogant, his inter-caste marriage, alleged affair with actress Nagma, the spat with Chappell and losing the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) captaincy in April 2009.

As it is written by a fan, the book does not give a historical perspective and at times the adulation is excessive and expressed in long sentences. No doubt Ganguly was an excellent captain, which the author aptly summarises when he writes, “If pulling Indian cricket out of the match fixing controversy was proof of his grit, positive energy, his success in bringing senior and junior players together defined his capability as a captain.”

The author rightly shows that Ganguly ushered in change through innovative concepts. The concept of a foreign coach was introduced through Ganguly when the Kiwi, John Wright, took over in 2000 and was in charge till 2005.

The Ganguly-Wright combination brought about a new regime of fitness, sports medicine and psychotherapy. In the well-researched chapter, Captain Sourav, the author writes, “Team India will probably never have a more motivating leader than him.” He writes that a unique aspect of Sourav’s captaincy was to pick the right men and nurture them. He was a “player’s captain.”

Ganguly wanted players who had the temperament not to be overawed and the pluck to fight along with talent. If he felt he had found the right candidate, he gave him chances: “You won’t be picked easily, but if you’re picked up, you will get a fair chance. Five games, seven games. Everybody needs time to settle down.”

M.S. Dhoni is the biggest beneficiary of Ganguly’s philosophy. He scored 0, 12, 7 not out and 3 in the first four innings after his ODI debut against Pakistan. But Ganguly saw the spark in him and persisted with the small town boy from Ranchi. His move paid dividends and Dhoni scored 148 at Visakhapatnam and then went from strength to strength.

Saptarshi Sarkar has rightly praised Sourav for rising above regional considerations when choosing the national team. He never pressed for the inclusion of players from his own state.

Before the advent of M.S. Dhoni, India kept changing their wicket-keepers. A wicket-keeper batsman like Deep Dasgupta, who was also from Bengal, got only a few opportunities to play under Ganguly’s captaincy. In this aspect Ganguly set a new template in captaincy, by rising above parochial provincialism in the selection of the national team. It is shown how as a captain he brought out the best in players by motivating them, giving them chances like promoting Virender Sehwag to an opener.

Another trend which Ganguly set and which the author rightly points out is giving opportunities to small town players who had the talent and grit. Besides Dhoni, he earlier reposed faith in Harbhajan Singh (Jalandhar), Zaheer Khan (Baroda), Mohammed Kaif (Allahabad) and Yuvraj Singh (Chandigarh) and it paid dividends. Under Ganguly’s captaincy, India became a team of fighters prepared to take on the opposition even on their home grounds.

The splendid series against mighty Australia in 2001 and again in 2003-04 is well chronicled as is the 2003 World Cup in South Africa, the 2002 Champions trophy in Sri Lanka, the successful chase of more than 300 runs in the Nat West trophy final in July 2002 and the path-breaking tour of Pakistan in 2004 when India won both the Test series and the One-Day series.

Sarkar supports his arguments with statistics. He shows that Ganguly, in a career spanning 113 Tests, played 49 as captain. India won 21 Tests during his tenure, a record surpassed by Dhoni in August 2014 with 27 wins in 57 Tests as skipper.

The most well researched chapters are on how and why Ganguly was evicted from captaincy, the sordid politics of the BCCI (of how Jagmohan Dalmiya sacrificed Ganguly’s captaincy to try and stay in power), Greg Chappell’s leaked email and the media houses that targeted Ganguly. The author candidly names the media houses which ganged up against Ganguly for either regional considerations or because they felt neglected.

The author says that during his heydays Ganguly did not give enough importance to an English daily, hence they carried a campaign against him. He writes that the newspaper even started a website, www.ihateganguly.com. A TV channel which spewed venom on him, according to the author, aired an hour-long programme, “Why don’t subcontinent players retire early?”

He also shows that Cricinfo.com, which is based in Bengaluru, was biased towards Rahul Dravid and published obituary pieces like “Goodbye Ganguly”. Above all, the author shows in detail how Chappell tarnished Ganguly’s image by indulging in character assassination and questioning his integrity in public. The book is embellished by well-researched and well-presented statistical tables which include Ganguly’s favourite five Test innings and One-Day innings.

In the chapter, The Awesome Twosome, the author has a chart which shows that the Sourav Ganguly-Sachin Tendulkar opening partnership in ODIs scored more runs and century partnerships than legendary pairs like Adam Gilchrist and Matthew Hayden (Australia) and Gordon Greenidge and Desmond Haynes (West Indies).

This book is essential for all Sourav Ganguly fans as well as those keen on a critical analysis of a crucial era in Indian cricket.

Novy Kapadia is a sports journalist, columnist and commentator