His Batting Came From His Personality
Over the formative years of life, an average human being learns many good lessons. Among those, one of the most important lessons is to get inspired from other's achievements. Now effect of an achievement, like entertainment, could often be relative! An achievement in a certain field by a certain individual might be celebrated across generations whereas another achievement by another individual might not reach more than a handful of people. However, what is not relative is the effect of the individual's personality, especially if that very personality contributed directly in making the individual achieve in his or her domain.
In the game of Cricket, we have seen many achievements happen. In fact, we are continuing to see those. But, outstanding personalities are not that common. What is even more uncommon is some personal qualities or the other contributing directly to those achievements. Sourav Ganguly is a name, an icon, a character, a personality and a figure that can be taken as a suitable example in this regard.
This icon and this iconic journey has almost become a myth; Ganguly's story has survived decades, his achievements have reached the 'Hall of Fame', and all twists and turns of his life have found their due places in numerous articles and essays. Yet, one feels that his personality has not been fully explored. There could be some more shades to discover from the gigantic life-canvas that he has created of himself. I wonder if it is because of his struggles and survivals, his grit and determination, or a simple combination of all these that makes him such an enigma and a personality of such intrigue.
The series of 1992 down in Australia was as forgetful as any disasters of our times. It could have all ended there - many similar stories end there. But the personality of the protagonist did not want to end it there. The long bat carried on, there were countless training sessions, several early mornings and the young boy was never to give up - not an inch. The fight for comeback, the fight against many odds, the fight to show who he is took him all the way to the summer of 1996. Four years of wait it was! And four long years of hard preparation it was! The heritage ground of Lords had seen many glorious pieces of history - its inclined surface had given hope to many and dashed hopes of many. The experts were stunned to see how a young debutante found so much time -- so much time to play his shots -- so much so that on every possible occasions, he could plant his front foot and meet any kind of pace. They were stunned to find out how a five-men-army on the off-side looked like a broken net allowing the ball to go through it at ease. A hundred on his first test match - a small boy with a tiny mustache made every spectator rise to their feet and acknowledge his very first feat.
It was a sultry afternoon and so far as I remember the venue was Pune. Ganguly was opening with Sachin. It was against Australia in a one-day match. It was white clothing all around and a red ball and two long and solid bats. If my memory does not betray me, it must have been Tom Moody the bowler and Ganguly-Tendulkar the batters who started to unleash. Clean strokes were being produced and the ground was being pierced on all sides. The frenzy of the fans was only to be seen in order to be believed and the opening batsmen were snatching the game away from their opponents. It felt like there was some kind of a healthy competition between the two legends : Sourav showing the world that he is possibly the only one that comes quite close to Sachin, on his day, and Sachin showing the world that he is a timeless artist! On that day, many took an oath - if they were to have a last wish for life it would be "to see Sachin and Sourav bat together like this....."
Ganguly and his grit to perform and perform like a star took NewZealand to pieces on a game that happened in Ahmedabad. His late hitting became folklore and he carried his bat for most part of the innings. In that game where he scored 153, he hit Chris Cairns for a six. Hitting six was not uncommon for Ganguly; in fact, it used to be a way for him to establish his supremacy. But this very six was very unique! The delivery was absolutely brilliant. There was nothing wrong in it, it was a deadly yorker. He hit a six of a yorker. Yes, that is right - he hit a six of a yorker. He just had to show the lovers of the game that it is indeed a beautiful game!
After being dropped from captaincy and then from the team, there came yet another time to give up. Or, we can say that there came a time to give in. But he did neither of those. A sparkling knock came from him in the tour of South Africa. The bowlers bowled short, they gave him nothing. He gave it everything. He looked for singles, he had an unending belief in his game and his craft. He survived, he carried the long handle, he scored, he hit boundaries on his favorite off-side and his determination made sure that a team in which he was re-inducted won the game. It was the 51 runs that came as a result of his untiring perseverance that made the team victorious.
The list is too big and many contemporary writers are still dreaming about writing something more on the life of this legend. I leave it to them and their wisdom to go further deep down and research every single innings of Ganguly and try to correlate each with his enigmatic persona and see if a cohesive relation could be found out.
I rather end with these lines from a famous Frank Sinatra song "That's Life" :
I've been up and down and over and out
And I know one thing:
Each time I find myself flat on my face,
I pick myself up and get back in the race.
In the game of Cricket, we have seen many achievements happen. In fact, we are continuing to see those. But, outstanding personalities are not that common. What is even more uncommon is some personal qualities or the other contributing directly to those achievements. Sourav Ganguly is a name, an icon, a character, a personality and a figure that can be taken as a suitable example in this regard.
This icon and this iconic journey has almost become a myth; Ganguly's story has survived decades, his achievements have reached the 'Hall of Fame', and all twists and turns of his life have found their due places in numerous articles and essays. Yet, one feels that his personality has not been fully explored. There could be some more shades to discover from the gigantic life-canvas that he has created of himself. I wonder if it is because of his struggles and survivals, his grit and determination, or a simple combination of all these that makes him such an enigma and a personality of such intrigue.
The series of 1992 down in Australia was as forgetful as any disasters of our times. It could have all ended there - many similar stories end there. But the personality of the protagonist did not want to end it there. The long bat carried on, there were countless training sessions, several early mornings and the young boy was never to give up - not an inch. The fight for comeback, the fight against many odds, the fight to show who he is took him all the way to the summer of 1996. Four years of wait it was! And four long years of hard preparation it was! The heritage ground of Lords had seen many glorious pieces of history - its inclined surface had given hope to many and dashed hopes of many. The experts were stunned to see how a young debutante found so much time -- so much time to play his shots -- so much so that on every possible occasions, he could plant his front foot and meet any kind of pace. They were stunned to find out how a five-men-army on the off-side looked like a broken net allowing the ball to go through it at ease. A hundred on his first test match - a small boy with a tiny mustache made every spectator rise to their feet and acknowledge his very first feat.
It was a sultry afternoon and so far as I remember the venue was Pune. Ganguly was opening with Sachin. It was against Australia in a one-day match. It was white clothing all around and a red ball and two long and solid bats. If my memory does not betray me, it must have been Tom Moody the bowler and Ganguly-Tendulkar the batters who started to unleash. Clean strokes were being produced and the ground was being pierced on all sides. The frenzy of the fans was only to be seen in order to be believed and the opening batsmen were snatching the game away from their opponents. It felt like there was some kind of a healthy competition between the two legends : Sourav showing the world that he is possibly the only one that comes quite close to Sachin, on his day, and Sachin showing the world that he is a timeless artist! On that day, many took an oath - if they were to have a last wish for life it would be "to see Sachin and Sourav bat together like this....."
Ganguly and his grit to perform and perform like a star took NewZealand to pieces on a game that happened in Ahmedabad. His late hitting became folklore and he carried his bat for most part of the innings. In that game where he scored 153, he hit Chris Cairns for a six. Hitting six was not uncommon for Ganguly; in fact, it used to be a way for him to establish his supremacy. But this very six was very unique! The delivery was absolutely brilliant. There was nothing wrong in it, it was a deadly yorker. He hit a six of a yorker. Yes, that is right - he hit a six of a yorker. He just had to show the lovers of the game that it is indeed a beautiful game!
After being dropped from captaincy and then from the team, there came yet another time to give up. Or, we can say that there came a time to give in. But he did neither of those. A sparkling knock came from him in the tour of South Africa. The bowlers bowled short, they gave him nothing. He gave it everything. He looked for singles, he had an unending belief in his game and his craft. He survived, he carried the long handle, he scored, he hit boundaries on his favorite off-side and his determination made sure that a team in which he was re-inducted won the game. It was the 51 runs that came as a result of his untiring perseverance that made the team victorious.
The list is too big and many contemporary writers are still dreaming about writing something more on the life of this legend. I leave it to them and their wisdom to go further deep down and research every single innings of Ganguly and try to correlate each with his enigmatic persona and see if a cohesive relation could be found out.
I rather end with these lines from a famous Frank Sinatra song "That's Life" :
I've been up and down and over and out
And I know one thing:
Each time I find myself flat on my face,
I pick myself up and get back in the race.
Was this a gift for DADA on his birthday? The match you are talking about is the 252 run first wicket record partnership? Not sure though, but I think it was played at Kochi.
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, thank you Saswati for taking the time to read this post. I am humbled and honored to see your comment on a post that I wrote on our very favorite Dada. Yes, this was a gift, albeit a very small one, to Dada on his birthday. The match that I wrote about was just a tiny piece of Ganguly-Tendulkar marvel and therefore I do not think it was the 252 run partnership. But Australia, Tom Moody and the rampage I still definitely remember. Also, this particular one-day game was played with white clothing and a red ball.
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