ANYTHING that can go wrong, will go wrong. So goes the famous Murphy’s law. And this is exactly the case with Indian captain Sourav Ganguly right now in the face of the six-match ban imposed on him by Match Referee Chris Broad. Frankly, my heart goes out to the man for whom nothing seems to be going right these days.
As if his own miserable run with the bat was enough to give him sleepless nights, the team under his leadership first allowed Pakistan to come back from behind and draw the Test series, and then after registering two straight victories in the One Day series it once again let Pakistan off the hook and lost the next two to leave it open at 2-2 after four encounters. And, finally came the somewhat harsh decision by the ICC referee. When it rains, it pours. This is what Ganguly must be thinking right now, and with great justification.
Personally speaking, I think Ganguly has been hard done by. Considering the match situation in the latter half of Pakistani innings, the captain of any fielding side would have taken extra care about bowling changes and field placements. That it was a Pakistan-India tie, made it that much more crucial for both sides. How crucial it is can be gauged by the fact that the calm and quiet Inzamamul Haq has for the first time been seen shouting and gesturing wildly in an enthusiastic mood throughout the series. In fact, he has been slapped by an ICC ban already during the course of the tour, which says a lot about the tension in the two camps involved.
Naturally, the match referee belongs to none of the camps and is able to take a disinterested view of the proceedings, as he should. While the ban on Inzamam, harsh though it is, came as a result of his animated behaviour, which is something that remains open to individual assessment, the one against Ganguly is reflective of a mechanical interpretation of rules by the referee because it involved nothing more than a delay by three overs.
While we are still on the subject, it is better to see it in a somewhat broader context. The Indians have never been good at time-keeping. Their lengthy team meetings and discussions on the field is something that has marked Ganguly’s captaincy from its very beginning. What started out as a Ganguly-Dravid-Tendulkar think-tank has now swelled to include almost everyone, specially under tense conditions. The match referee might have been influenced by that track record, but, under the immediate circumstances in which the ban has been slapped, I find his interpretation a bit too mechanical.
Just as I was writing these lines came the news that Ganguly has filed an appeal against the ban with the International Cricket Council. Under the rules, the ICC would now appoint a commissioner who would settle the case within eight to ten days, and would have the power not just to either put aside or stay the judgement of the referee, but also to either decrease or increase the duration of the ban.
Apart from its other implications, the first thing it means is Ganguly’s availability for the last two games in the series. One of them would have been played before you get to see this column in print, and would know how he performs. I hope he will come good, because the mood in India, where I am camped ever since the tour got under way, is getting pretty hostile, with the media and the fans in the stands clearly getting restless. I also hope that the Indian selectors would not lose faith and would continue with him for a while, but these last two matches very much represent a last-gasp chance for the beleaguered Indian captain.
ANYTHING that can go wrong, will go wrong. So goes the famous Murphy’s law. And this is exactly the case with Indian captain Sourav Ganguly right now in the face of the six-match ban imposed on him by Match Referee Chris Broad. Frankly, my heart goes out to the man for whom nothing seems to be going right these days.
