April 10, 2005

THE lean period that has gripped Indian captain Sourav Ganguly seems to be getting lengthier by the day. The miserable run has severely crippled his free-flowing attitude at the batting crease, which is such a shame for I have always enjoyed his serene drives and punishing cuts. The pressure under such circumstances is tremendous, to say the least.

Contrary to what people generally believe, the external pressure comes much later than the pressure that comes from within, which is the real culprit that makes a mess of everything — footwork, hand-eye coordination, and, above all, self-confidence. All this together means horrendous execution by the body of what the mind plans to do. One can conceive the shot, but cannot execute it for no apparent reason. It’s frustrating.

The external pressure comes a little later, and with the level of one’s belief in his own capacity already at a low ebb, it makes things worse by forcing the poor soul to expedite his return to the top.

The problem is that no one can expedite the affair. It is always a slow process involving hard work and patience. The more haste one makes to silence the nay-sayers, the worse gets the problem. In turn, the worse the problem gets, louder goes the chorus of critics. It is a vicious cycle, especially when it happens to someone who has been scoring runs for the better part of his career. The expectations of the public are that much more in such cases. Otherwise, those in the early phases of their careers can enjoy the luxury of recovering in relative silence by playing it out on the domestic scene, and register a comeback with time on their side.

This exactly is the problem with Ganguly; he is crumbling under mounting pressure when all he needs to do is to concentrate on the basics while in the nets. The manner of his dismissals during the series suggests he is trying to play his normal game which includes a lot of shuffling and flashing. This has not worked for him, and he needs to start all over again. He has a lot of cricket left in him to just fizzle out like this. I hope the Indians — the man on the street as well as the selectors — will not jump the gun when they don’t have to.

Despite the presence of various stars in the Indian lineup, I believe there is no one who can pose a direct challenge to Ganguly’s place as the team’s captain. The only two possible candidates can be Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar. The latter had his spot in the limelight before Ganguly was promoted to the slot as Tendulkar failed to inspire the team as the leader. As for Dravid, he is such a key member of the unit that it will be too risky to burden him with the captaincy. In a certain manner, he may face the same problems and loss of concentration that ruined Tendulkar’s captaincy because in those days Tendulkar was the lone superstar in the team, and everything depended on his performance. Dravid has just that kind of presence in the current setup.

Ganguly’s case has always been different from these two. He, first and foremost, is a born leader of men. If India decides to part ways with him without first being sure of his replacement, much of the strides made by the team in the last few years would be put in jeopardy. It is time to give Ganguly the confidence that he requires to get back to his normal self. I hope it will be sooner rather than later.

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