da pinnacle： Readers express their views on the Sourav Ganguly issue
da lvbet： 16-Sep-2005The news that Sourav Ganguly had said that he was asked to resign the Indian captaincy on the eve of the Bulawayo Test, and Cricinfo’s subsequent editorial on the issue, attracted record feedback. Here is a selection of your emails. If you would like to have your say then please emails usIt was wrong for Ganguly to go public like this. In any case he has no place in the Test team. Look who’s sitting out – Mohammad Kaif. Who is a better Test cricketer today – Ganguly or Kaif? And who do we need more – Ganguly or Greg Chappell? Ganguly should be out of the Test team after this series. Indra Vikram Singh India
Ganguly was dead right in going public about the captaincy issue. Everyone is concerned about the fact of his choosing to drop the bombshell in the middle of the match. But the very fact he was asked to step down before the match justifies it. If somebody is right in asking him to step down just before the match, then he has the right to react to it according to his own convenience. The fact that India’s past cricket captains always took it lying down caused the downfall of Indian cricket. Ganguly’s century is being criticized as one against the worst bowling attack in international cricket. If it is so, why in the first place should we go there and play cricket? Soumya Bhattacharya IndiaEverybody seems to have an agenda when it comes to commenting on cricketing issues in India. This includes your own Anand Vasu. How can a coach ask the captain of the team to step down? Chappell is trying to play god here. Let him first establish his credentials as coach before having a say in selection matters, let alone asking the captain to step down. Vimal Thareja IndiaFor someone like Ganguly, the whole world’s a stage and that’s how it has been ever since he took over the captaincy. To be fair, he has used this uncanny ability to `perform’ for the benefit of Team India in the past, best example being his shirt-waving gimmick in England. However, in the last couple of years, without his bat doing any talking, he has had to resort to his mouth to do the job. What we saw yesterday was a cry of a desperate man trying to save himself from sinking. Ganguly was always known to be a shrewd leader. With this, he has proved he can be a wily politician too! Arun Menon IndiaThere is no `I’ in a team. Waiting for a century against Zimbabwe and then washing dirty linen in public is definitely wrong. I am sure whoever asked him to step down had the backing of the powers to be. I see this to be a real discipline problem within the team. That this has been going on for a long time is evidenced by the results. Pankaj Daiya United StatesThe pressure and frustration Ganguly went through in the past one year probably made him go public about internal arguments regarding his captaincy. And, if it was from Greg Chappell, then it is totally uncalled for. Greg is yet to prove himself as coach and blaming Ganguly’s captaincy is not the explanation we expect from him. Punit Malhotra IndiaGanguly’s fans want him to speak his mind. His cricket does the talking often enough and now with experts, this website included, baying for his blood he should open up. Forget about team for the moment. Let citizen Ganguly air his views. Fans love a straight talking leader, one who hates nonsense. Buro Mitter IndiaIn my opinion, Ganguly exercised poor judgment and immaturity in expressing dissent against a coach of legendary stature. Ganguly’s so-called record of being India’s “most-successful” captain is a statistical outcome of the number of matches India plays against B-grade teams. And when India has won Test matches, they have been due to unusual individual performances – Laxman, Dravid and Harbhajan come to mind readily – not Ganguly’s leadership abilities. In fact, more often, we see the Indian team looking totally clueless on the field – does Ganguly realize that, recently, Bangladesh scored 370 runs in a single day against India (spread over 2 innings) – does anyone care to mention that embarrassment? Venkatesh United StatesHow naive can you get Anand Vasu? Are you saying that Ganguly is the sole cause for all that is going on? Throw your mind back to when Gavaskar wrote in a column that John Wright was abused by some Indian players and that is why he did not want to continue any more as coach. Coming from the greatest opener of all time, was that rightly timed? Just because it was not Ganguly you have chosen to ignore that statement. Similarly, nobody complains when VVS Laxman finds it very convenient time to refer to negative vibes in the team a day before Ganguly’s statement. Anil Kumble too asked why he was being discriminated against after getting dropped for the Videocon Cup. India is in trouble and it is ironic that the man who gave a bunch of XI players the tag of a “Team” is being subjected to a witch hunt!! P Satish Kumar IndiaSourav Ganguly has committed the cardinal sin of letting outsiders in on family quarrels. That’s what it is. In tense times, differences arise and it’s the head of the family or, in this case, the captain’s job to hold everything together. By going public with that statement, on the third day after completing his tasteless hundred, Ganguly not only proved how selfish he is, but how conniving he is. I used to like the man for his aggression in standing up against the bullying-tactics of the players from the so called ‘superior cricketing’ nations, but have realized that he is a spent force, desperately trying to latch on to his position at the expense of the team.Praveen United StatesTeam India or Team Disarray? Starting with the captain and coach. It is a sin for Ganguly to come out in the middle of a match and make a statement like this. What is he thinking?He is the captain of the team!! He cannot make comments to take the focus away from the game. Playing for India should be motivation enough to play hard. He can fight his personal battles when he gets back. Ranjit United States
