Sourav Ganguly: Cricket Captaincy Controversy by Saptarshi Sarkar

Author:Saptarshi Sarkar [Sarkar, Saptarshi]
Language: ara
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2015-03-14T18:30:00+00:00

The astounding fairy-tale Indian recovery and one of the most sensational comebacks in Test cricket history resulted in several records and culminated in only the third victory in Test history for a side that had followed on. Australia was the victim in previous instances of the kind too, losing to England at Sydney in 1894–95 and Headingly, Leeds, in 1981. The Laxman Dravid duo almost overshadowed the outstanding performance of off-spinner Harbhajan Singh who claimed India’s first Test hat-trick while capturing his career-best 7 wickets in the first innings. He followed it up with a match-winning six in the second one.

A new team was born under captain Sourav Ganguly. He had been under fire for lack of form and unimaginative captaincy in the Mumbai Test earlier. He came in to bowl early on in the innings and proved that he was prepared to lead from the front. He juggled his bowlers around efficiently and brought Harbhajan in to maintain the pressure. At the end of the day, India was able to reap the rewards of Ganguly’s much-improved leading-from-the-front approach and the spirited ‘Yes-we-can-do-it’ on-field attitude.

After the victory at Eden Gardens, there was no looking back for a rejuvenated Team India. The pitch in Chennai seemed promising for spinners and Harbhajan began where he had left off at the Eden. Supported by leg spinner Bahutule and slow left-armer Kulkarni, Harbhajan took 15 wickets, his second successive Test match haul of ten or more wickets (only leg spinner Narendra Hirwani with 16 against WI had scalped more). Hayden’s double ton (203) and Mark Waugh’s 70 helped Australia put up a decent first innings score of 391, even as Bhajji picked up 7 wickets. India responded confidently: openers Das (84) and Ramesh (61), along with Laxman (65), Dravid (84) and Tendulkar (126), gave India a solid first-innings score of 501 and a lead of 110 runs. Harbhajan struck again in the second innings; except Slater and the Waugh brothers, the entire Australian team surrendered to Bhajji’s sharp turners (884) and were bowled out for 264. Despite chasing an easy target of 155, India initially messed up after Tendulkar’s departure. However, fantastic performances by Laxman (66) and Samir Dighe (22) rescued the Indian batting order and India clinched the Border–Gavaskar Trophy with a 2–1 margin.

It had been a humdinger of a series, marked by dramatic shifts of fortune. Steve Waugh’s dream of conquering the final frontier lay shattered in the face of one of the most remarkable turnarounds in Test cricket history. The heroes were Laxman, Dravid, Tendulkar and Harbhajan, with Ganguly galvanizing the side like never before. A new Team India was born, one that had learnt not to give up the fight till the last ball was bowled. The series would mark a definite turning point in how the Indian team looked at itself and indeed how the world perceived the team. Though Australia salvaged some of its lost glory by clinching the ODI series with a closely fought margin of 3–2, there was no doubt about India coming of age as a fighting unit.

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