Of Volatile Affections

Read a superb article by Harsha Bhogle on the current Indian team, and of Ganguly's ouster:

There was a banner at Ahmedabad. It was crude, pathetic and, yet, a stark reflection of the reality of Indian cricket. Tendulkar-Master, Dhoni-Blaster, Ganguly-Disaster it said. The last time someone sat down to write a piece on the resurgence of Indian cricket, the man labelled disaster was the toast of the town, he had the world at his feet and I am sure the pitiable person who wrote that banner thought Ganguly was the best thing to happen to Indian cricket.

Ganguly is in a tough spot, no doubt. He will really have to claw his way into the team, against public opposition as well as internal politics. For a long time, SG was the captain who could do nothing wrong; he was practically the second-best batsman in the team after SRT (in the pre-ODI Dravid days). And the SRT-SG opening combination was second to none. But then, this is the way things should be - a Sehwag, Yuvraj or Ganguly should not take his place in the team for granted - ideally nor should a SRT or RD, for that matter ! Bhogle goes on to say indeed this (though the statement in this instance is directed at Ganguly):

Dravid is a great admirer of Steve Waugh and you can expect the same directness of approach. Early in his captaincy, Waugh had to leave out Shane Warne. You can be sure that Chappell and Dravid will not, similarly, allow sentiment to come in the way of leaving out a champion fallen on bad form.

Read the rest here (Indian Express).