Comeback king Sourav Ganguly

By Sanket Mahapatra

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Story of a man who has never failed to try one last time before hanging up his boots. The saga of a champion, the comeback king Sourav Chandidas Ganguly. His journey in the cricketing world.

Full story & My opinion

Some persons in the history of professional sports are called as destiny’s own children and the game of Cricket has seen many such men. Former Indian captain Sourav Ganguly is one of them and maybe the most famous one. Often termed as ‘Maharaja’ (the great king), Sourav Ganguly has made numerous successful comebacks into the team after being written off and forgotten by everyone.

Once considered as the greatest Indian captain and one of the best ODI players in World cricket, Sourav Ganguly always had a lot of detractors. He was aggressive, stubborn and straightforward in his approach, which made him successful in the tough arena of International Cricket. The mentioned qualities also became the reason why he was criticized. This article will narrate the tale of a champion, who never gave up and fought till all his critics ate back their own words.

Ultimate Sourav Ganguly Tribute :

Sourav Ganguly made his ODI debut against West Indies in January 1992. The pressure of expectations and hopes was very high on the shoulders of the 20 year old lad and he managed to score only 3 runs on his debut. He was immediately dropped from the team and a valid reason for so hasn’t surfaced out yet. At that time it was said that he was dropped due to his arrogant behavior, which according to me isn’t a reason at all, because it was not a high school team, but the national team of a country, where the thing that mattered was performance and Sourav wasn’t given enough chances to perform.

Young Sourav didn’t back down and kept on working hard to improve his game. He got selected in the test side touring England in 1996, 4 years after being dropped from the team. During these four years, Sourav scored heavily in the domestic circuit and improved all aspects of his batting and bowling. He got a chance to play the first test match of his life during the second test at lords. Sourav marked the beginning of an illustrative career by scoring a century on debut, followed by another one in the second match. The rest, they say is history. Sourav achieved immense success in every form of the game in the subsequent years and was made the captain of the Indian team in 2000. If the southpaw was flamboyant as a player, then he was the messiah as a captain. He instilled a sense of belief among his team mates and helped them break their shackles and play out of their comfort zones. A new team India was born, one which didn’t fear anyone and was always up for the challenge.

In an unfortunate turn of events, Sourav lost his captaincy and place in the team due to poor form and row with then coach Greg Chappell. It was the toughest phase of Sourav’s career. The man who was praised and loved by everyone, found himself waging a lone battle to get back into the team. Sourav again went back to regain his form and confidence in the domestic circuit. He joined the English county side Glamorgan and pressed hard to make a comeback to the national team. He finally did that, making a comeback to the test side in the series against South Africa. Sourav was determined to succeed and it showed in the manner he played. He scored the most number of runs in the series. In the subsequent series against Srilanka and Australia, Sourav was prolific, topping the list of top scorers for the team. Then he announced his retirement amidst speculations that he was forced to do so. Nevertheless, he was made the Icon player and captain of Kolkata Knight Riders, a team in the Indian Premier League. He captained the team twice in 3 years. His individual performance was commendable, but the team faired badly in all 3 editions and Sourav was overlooked in the squad auction for the fourth edition of Indian Premier League. Everybody thought that it was the end of Sourav’s journey in cricket, but how wrong everyone was. The comeback king Sourav Ganguly was choosen by Pune Warriors in the middle of the 4th edition of IPL, a move that was a slap to the face of his detractors and a welcome surprise to his fans.

As days pass by, 39 year old Sourav still inspires a million hearts, pushes them to try hard and never back down.