Sport | Cricket

Ganguly's timing spot-on once again

The Last Act is the most difficult one for even sport's highest achievers - and Sourav Ganguly proved no exception.

  • By Gautam Bhattacharyya, Deputy Sports Editor
  • Published: 00:27 October 10, 2008
  • Gulf News

The Last Act is the most difficult one for even sport's highest achievers - and Sourav Ganguly proved no exception.

Quite deliberately, he held back announcing his retirement until the last and tried to sound extremely matter of fact - not willing to take on probing questions - at least for the time being.

This is a moment which even the toughest try to mask with a degree of smartness, much like Ganguly, or fumble for the right words. Behind it, they all wipe away the odd tear...

For somebody whose sense of timing was considered to be his greatest gift, Ganguly's announcement could not have come at a better time. If there was some studied delay, rather than an emotional outburst at the repeated humiliation over the last two years or so, it was possibly because of the inner turmoil.

It's never easy to choose the 'right time' for anything like this - something which lesser mortals like us can never understand. If Sunil Gavaskar could have done it right, even somebody like Kapil Dev almost threatened to overstay his welcome and almost became the victim of a generation gap in the team.

At the other end of the spectrum, far lesser cricketers like a Ravi Shastri or Sanjay Manjrekar were far more realistic in deciding when to call it quits.

There would still be the whispers of Ganguly agreeing to a 'golden handshake' from the Indian board, or whether he should have gone after scoring his first and only double-century in Tests against Pakistan at the same venue of Bangalore late last year.

Another call-up

But then, having finished the calendar year as the India's highest Test scorer, Ganguly was only expecting another call-up to the one-day side.

Even if the talk of a so-called compromise between the BCCI and senior players is true, there is not much reason to fuss over it.

Does anyone actually know what transpired when Australian greats like Warne and Langer bowed out after the last Ashes series in 2007, followed shortly after by McGrath?

After all, we have often held it against the cricketing establishments of the sub-continent that they take their own heroes for granted.

Hence, if a beleaguered Ganguly has now removed a burden from his shoulders to look forward to a stress-free series against the best team in the world - then the most successful Test captain in Indian cricket is not really asking for much!

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