The art of the riposte
Dropped and just about forgotten, Sourav Ganguly has returned in a manner that has confounded many. "I've come back to this stage all on my own and that feels very good," he says
|
|
I don't think so. Just that I've played well since I've come back. I've played well in the past also, had some lean patches in the past also. It's going to happen to everyone. The satisfying thing is the consistency, I think that's the best part of it. It's not just that I'm getting runs - I've got runs earlier also - but it's the way I'm playing, and the consistency.
When you play well, it seems like that. That's why form is so important. It's the patches that you hit in your career at different stages.
I batted well in Karachi. I wasn't getting many opportunities at that stage, and I thought I batted very well. I was unfortunate not to continue, but that's past. But yes, I thought I started batting well in that innings. This phase is a continuation of that.
I have changed my technique, bit with my stance, bit with my initial movement. I use a slightly lighter bat compared to my earlier days. I've worked on it, but nothing major.
I would have tried for a certain period of time - till probably the World Cup. If after that it didn't happen, probably I would have taken other decisions | |||
I don't think age has got anything to do with it, unless you're in your forties, or a fast bowler in your late thirties. I'm 34 now, and for a batsman it's not any age at all. I don't think age has anything to do with sports. It's just how fit you are and how you perform. I have worked on my fitness.
It is a mindset in India. Decisions change very quickly with one win and one loss. I've seen some renowned names do it. We are a bit sensitive as a country. I wouldn't say that only that kept me going. I felt I was good enough, I felt that at some stage I'd get an opportunity because of the performances I've had for my country. I knew it would not be easy to throw me away easily. I also knew there was a lot of tough cricket coming [for the Indian team], and as I said, people forget things very easily in India.
I was young then. When you're 21-22, nothing matters. The world is at your feet, you don't care much about things. I was enjoying playing for Bengal. Bengal were doing well. I never missed playing for the country. But obviously this time when I got dropped it was different. The circumstances in which I got dropped were not very good. I've been part of a successful team for 10 years, and I still believe that I can be a part of this team. So these are two completely different situations.
I would have tried for a certain period of time - till probably the World Cup. If after that it didn't happen, probably I would have taken other decisions. But at that stage I was trying very hard because I knew I had to perform every time.
No. I knew that the selection committee would change in September. There were a lot of things involved. As I said, these things were not in my control. I'd just given myself a deadline that I would try till this period of time, and just kept going.
As I said, these reactions were not in my control. But a lot of the reactions were very positive. Cricket is so huge in this country that there will be reactions at different stages. But it's what you think about yourself. I'm a firm believer that what you think about yourself is most important. Not what others think about you. And I always believed that I would get another opportunity.
That's always going to be the case. Two years down the line, if we get dropped, it will be because we've not done well. That's the way this game goes. You perform, you play. If you don't perform, you don't. Obviously the team went through a phase when some guys were not performing, so that opened up the doors.
They were pretty much okay. They knew they hadn't played some good cricket, but they knew they could turn it around also. South Africa is always a difficult place to tour. I also had things on my mind - trying to establish myself back in the team. So we all had different thoughts on our mind.
It was important because it opened up my place in the Test side. Although it was a side game, it helped me play the Test match.
|
|
Every time you walk out to bat for India, however many matches you've played, some tension will be there. I've always believed I had it in me to be successful. Somehow I have this ability - whether it's god-given or not, I don't know - but I believe that I can be successful. That's the only way you can be successful. If before playing you believe that you may not be successful, then you'll definitely not be successful. I took it as a challenge, that if I can do well, I can get my place back. And obviously a little bit of luck helped.
In certain phases as captain I've played outstandingly, certain phases I've not played well. But that is more to do with a career over a long period of time than with captaincy. And it's going to happen to everyone. Also, captaining India is hard, and it gets harder the longer you stay as captain. But I have made useful contributions as captain. Obviously, when you're not captain, things are different. I've always said captaincy is hard work. And captaining India is the toughest.
I'm never that sort of a person, who would give up things. I never think that way, because captaining India is a huge honour. And I've played some good knocks as captain and I've always believed that I could play good knocks again. So I never thought of quitting captaincy at that stage for batting. Maybe at some stage I would have, if I had not been dropped, because I'd been captain for too long, I'd say.
I don't think so.
No. My comeback is because I still had the ability to perform at this level. And I don't think it's because I was dropped.
I think I knew it would be for only four or five overs. So I was just trying to do the job that Rahul would have done.
It doesn't excite me anymore.
It's been good. As I said, lots of things happened. But time heals everything. I've come back to the team and am performing, helping the team to win. And that's what a coach requires from a player, and that's what a cricket team needs.
My father is obsessed with the game, obsessed with me playing for India. Luckily my wife is not a great follower of the game, but she was sad that I wasn't playing for the country because she knows how happy I feel when I play for India and perform. From that point of view, she was upset. But it probably hurt my dad more than anybody else, and I'm happy for him that I'm playing well.
No. I think I'm a person misunderstood by a lot of people, because of the way I interact on the field - which was the way I thought India would play the best. I think that's happened a lot in my career. I judge myself as a person off the field, not as a person on the field. That hasn't changed.
Obviously it will change. Performance is the key but I've realised that life's a lot more than just cricket. It's something I've realised over the last year or so. But as I've said, nothing makes me more happy than performing.
It's tough. It's not easy playing domestic cricket, because of the standard of cricket you've played. But I'm lucky to be playing for Bengal because we've got the best facilities and always have good hotels to stay at. It made my job a bit easier. But you've got to accept one thing - when you're out of the team, the only way to get back is by playing domestic cricket. I have this ability to accept reality very quickly, and probably that part of my character helped me go into domestic cricket and try and make a way back into the side.
There're two ways of looking at it. You can quit and go. But I looked at it as, "I've seen the best, achieved quite a few things for India, let's see if I'm good enough to go through this."
It's just a commercial. It's important to treat a commercial as a commercial. It's got no connection to reality, real life. I've seen a lot of people singing and dancing in commercials, but I think we should not mix up commercials with life.
I said no to them, because I knew what people would think - how it could be and could have been twisted. But in the end I decided to do it because it was obviously really important for the brand.
I think the current team that's going for the World Cup is probably the best possible Indian team at the moment. There'll always be a few names here and there who could have been part of the side, who somehow missed the bus, who are probably as good. But that's the way it is, you can only pick so many. But I'm happy we've picked a strong side to go to the West Indies.
I hope I can play as well as I'm doing now. I know it's not going to continue forever, there will be hiccups at some stage. And it's how quickly I bounce back from that and start performing again. If you play 10 innings and perform six times, I think you've done a good job.
Performance is the key but I've realised that life's a lot more than just cricket. It's something I've realised over the last year or so | |||
I think in 1996 I was playing very well. For four-five years I batted very well. In Australia [2003-04] I batted very well. Batted very well in England in 2002, batted very well in the Champions Trophy in 2000, when I first became captain. There have been phases when I've batted as well as this.
Why this looks good and different is because of everything that's gone along. It's a package, it's not just one thing. So that probably has made it special. I wouldn't say I've done something really special. I've done something that's made me happy. Because I had to go back to domestic cricket, go through the grind, sometimes have been left out of the team when I felt that I'm probably as good or better than some. But it's just that I've come back to this stage all on my own, and that feels very good.
Siddhartha Vaidyanathan is an assistant editor at Cricinfo