Salute To DADA

Salute to DADA

Sourav Ganguly. Dada. God of Offside. Prince of Culcutta. Bengal Tiger. And there is a lot more.

Lot of People says Sachin as God Of cricket. Yes, he is a real maestro. But for me Dada is the GOD of Cricket. The man who changed the way how Indians played cricket. He came to Indian cricket team, in 1996. He would have been in the team long before, if he had a God Father. He came in the middle of lot of opposition from the media. Every body criticized dada and BCCI for taking him into team. But he soon proved that he is the One who deserves to be in the team more than any one else. Soon after 1999 world cup Azharudin quit as Indian team captain. Sachin took over. The worst time of Indian Cricket. Team was swaying in the Match-fixing scandal. Azharudin and Jadeja, who could have brcame Indian team captain where included in the scandal and they where send off the team. And then Sachin Quit as team captain. As he could not concentrate on his batting.

At this situation Dada took the post of Captain. Indian Team. Until then it was known as Tigers at home and Rats at foreign soil. There are lots of match winners. Who could single handedly take team to victory like sachin, dravid, kumble n dada himself. But it lacked a unit as team. With dada’s pressure on BCCI Team India got its 1^st Non-Indian coach, John Wright. Then there was no looking back. Series wins at Pakisthan, England West Indies. He gave opportunities to youngsters. Zaheer, Pathan, Bhaji, Yuvi, Shewag. All where his findings. How can one forget the Series victory of India against Australia in 2001. They lost their 1^st match. In the 2^nd they where having follow on. Lakshman brought India back to track. India got lead. But something un thinkable happened on the last day. Dada declared and asked to Ausies to bat. He took the risk. And that paid. A marvelous victory with the help of Bhaji. He kept the faith Dada had on him.

With that there was no looking back. The series victory in England. How can any one forget that. When Dada took off his shirt and waved in Ovals. Finding of that series, Yuvraj and Kaif. India proved it can win as a team. Without the help of Sachin. Indian Team grew from Sachin. It became ‘Team India’. And Dada lead us to 2003 World cup final. After a long 20 years wait it was in World Cup final.

The down fall of Dada started when he had a spat with the new Indian coach Chappel. Dravid took over as captain. Soon it was proved that BCCI had taken a wrong decision. It lost the world cup. It didn’t even reached the Super Sixes. The media which had not left any stone turned against Dada now said Team India lacked some thing. It doesn’t have the spirit any more. I say it Lacked Dada. Anyway it was for good of the team. There was a new breed of players. The young angry Indians. The people who can do miracles in split seconds. Dhoni, Ishanth, Raina, Gambhir, RP singh, Munaf Patel etc. They brought home T20 world cup. Soon Dravid quit as captain and something un-thinkable happened. Dhoni was made captain.

Now back to Dada. He was back in team. His best ever come back. He had the best averages. But stil they threw him out. And finally he was taken for Ind-Ausies series. And he announced his retirement after the series. He burst out against the selectors. He said, he doesn’t have to prove any more. He had proved more than enough. And what marvelous Last series he had. It saw the worst lose by Australia. He hit a cent. And on the final day of fourth test he was made captain for the final overs. Thanks to Dhoni.

After the match Dada said, I’m happy that Team India is in safe hands now. Dhoni has the same spirit that Dada once had. And so the most successful captain that India had, The Best Captain Retires with all his pride. The man who gave us victories to a country of a billion, who had a religion called Cricket. Then man who proved we are not any other team. We are team Inida. The man who asked our batsmen to stare back at bowlers, who try to intimidate them, showed the world that Indian team can be tough and rough. They won’t go back when you tease them. They will strike back as never before. Thank you Dada, Thank you.

I Salute you Dada

Full name: Sourav Chandidas Ganguly

Nickname Dada, Prince of Kolkata, Bengal Tiger, Maharaja

Born 8 July 1972 (1972-07-08) (age 36) Calcutta, Bengal, India

Height 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)

Batting style Left-handed

Bowling style Right arm medium

Role Batsman

Test debut (cap 207) 20 June 1996: v England

Last Test 6 November 2008: v Australia

ODI debut (cap 84) 11 January 1992: v West Indies

Last ODI 15 November 2007: v Pakistan

Domestic team information

Years Team 1989/90–2006/07 Bengal 2000 Lancashire 2005 Glamorgan 2006 Northamptonshire 2008–present Kolkata Knight Riders

Career statistics

Tests ODI FC List A

Matches 113 311 241 423

Runs scored 7,212 11,363 14,864 15,161

Batting average 42.17 41.02 43.84 41.53

100s/50s 16/35 22/72 31/84 31/93

Top score 239 183 239 183

Balls bowled 3,117 4,561 10,920 7,949

Wickets 32 100 164 168

Bowling avr 52.53 38.49 36.66 38.41

5 wickets in inn. 0 2 4 2

Best bowling 3/28 5/16 6/46 5/16

Catches 71 100 166 129

*Details from Wikipedia