A real interview with the Fake IPL Player(Anupam Mukerji) about Sourav Ganguly

By : Ranajoy Chakrabarty

Cricket`s most famous Blogger, the man who writes the famous blog The Fake IPL Player, Anupam Mukerji. He single handily made one of the biggest controversies in Cricket. Now a columnist in a famous newspaper & author of the book The Gamechangers, his latest venture is Pitch-Invation a online radio station that gives you live cricket commentary. It is another brilliant idea from Anupam Mukerji & really makes listening to cricket matches all the more fun. Follow him at @_fakeiplplayer

Here goes the interview:

Define Sourav Ganguly in one statement.
A man with scrotum made of steel.

From 1992 to 2008, how would you like to define Sourav Ganguly – The International Player?
Brilliant batsman with great mental fortitude. He would have had a much better batting record if he didn’t have to deal with pressures of captaincy.

Your favorite Sourav Ganguly Test, ODI & IPL innings.
Tests: His unbeaten 51 against South Africa in Johannesburg in 2006. He was making a comeback, playing on a difficult track against good fast bowling (considered a weakness for him) and made the highest score of the inning in a match that India won. For me, that inning showed the character of the man.
ODIs: His 183 against Sri Lanka at Taunton in the 1999 world cup. He just decimated the bowling. It was like a dream (or nightmare for a Sri Lankan supporter).
IPL: I think the entire IPL saga has been one fascinating innings from Sourav Ganguly. It’s like a movie still unfolding.

As a captain, do you think Dada is head and shoulders above his predecessors and successors?
He’s head above his predecessors and shoulders above his successors.

What led you to start the FIP blog? Was it something that you had wanted to do for long or it just happened in the heat of the moment?
It was a result of a deadly combination of insomnia, psychotropic substances and an irresistible urge for mischief. It was a spur of the moment decision.

Who was fake IPL player’s favorite in the KKR camp?
Like a mother who can’t choose between any of her children, it’s very difficult for the fake IPL player to name a favourite. He loved (or hated) everyone equally. Actually, not equally. Some he hated more than the others (Read BN and VD)

How would the Fake IPL player describe Sourav Ganguly`s shirt waving incident in Natwest 2002?
Wish he had worked out for a year before doing that. Exposing that physique to the whole wide world must have had a telling impact on sexual prospects for young Bengali males for the next five years.

On a serious note, what he did was fabulous. Mucho respect!

Would you like to say something about your book–The Gamechangers?
Yea. Buy it! I had a great time writing it. It was a very solo exercise, almost meditative. And I reached levels of imagination I didn’t know I was capable of. The book published in March 2010 and I am happy with how it was received.

There was a lot of controversy regarding your blog in 2009, most Ganguly fans didn’t like the way “Lordie” was portrayed. What made you come up with that name?
I think the blog was quite pro-Ganguly. It was good to take that tone because he was, at the time, evoking a lot of sentiment across India. I also felt he had been ‘wronged’ by Buchanan and I’ve had this thing against the Australian team for a long time. So, I too felt sympathetic to how he was treated.

Lordie was short for Lord Almighty which was inspired by Lord Snootie that he was called by his teammates in the County circuit.

Did Sourav Ganguly ever talk with you about the FIP blog?
No. Never. I am yet to interact with him personally.

IPL season 4 and Ganguly’s ouster by KKR, your views on that?
Well, he isn’t really at his fittest at this age and he isn’t getting any younger. So, to be honest, I can understand why a franchise wouldn’t want to bet on him for the next three years. Also, by picking Ganguly you aren’t picking just another player. You are picking a personality who will strongly impact on the team dynamics. So, if I were a franchise, I would pick Ganguly first and then build a team around him. If a franchise isn’t comfortable with him being the fulcrum of the side, I wouldn’t advise them to have Ganguly in it.

I also believe he had an in-principle ok from a couple of franchises that they are interested in him. That’s why he put himself in the fray and also upped his base price at the eleventh hour. So, he may have reasons to feel betrayed.

IPL 4, the comeback against DC for PWI. How would you rate that?
When he came into IPL belatedly, just due to the aura he exudes, there was sudden interest in IPL again. But, to be honest, I would like to remember Ganguly as the batsman he was in his international career rather than the pale shadow he has become of himself now.

Rumors suggest, Sourav Ganguly will be the coach-cum-captain of PWI for IPL 5, Do you think Sourav Ganguly is the right man for it?
It’s hard to say. But, as I mentioned earlier, if you want him then might as well make him coach-cum-captain. It’s a lottery. It could prove to be a disaster or a masterstroke.

India won the 2011 world cup under Dhoni, but how much credit do you think Sourav Ganguly deserves for it?
None whatsoever. I think Ganguly did brilliantly as captain and ushered in a new era in Indian cricket. But I don’t think any of the recent success can be attributed to that. Nasser Hussain was asked the same question recently of whether the current England team’s success can be traced back to the revival under Nasser Hussain. He too refused to take any credit for it.