The Underdog

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1-0 down at 123/4,chasing 265, staring at a humiliating defeat at the hands of the merciless South Africans..enter ‘the prince’…
what followed was silken cover drives ,and fluid sixes , as if lord hath truly descended on earth …
‘The god of the offside’ played a masterful innings of 87 annihilating the opponents defenses.
All this when rumors had it that he was being dropped from the team….
What is the price one have to be david ,the slayer of goliath? Immense scrutiny , people waiting for you to fail?
The old adage has it that – “when the going gets tough only the tough get going”..but what if the going is always tough??
An underdog all his life, S C Ganguly ,has fought long and hard, braved many obstacle that came his way- got dropped on ennumerous occasions ,got ground by ‘affable’ relations with the management yet kept going…
Never a pedantic,he played around with the rule and the system ,let his infectious energy rekindle Indian cricket’s fortunes.
He converted a group of tyro’s , novices into a matchwinning team and later had to fight for a place amongst these players !! It is ironic that worlds highest rungetter for three consecutive years gets dropped due to a minor slump in form even though he was the most successful captain at that point of time.
Yet he faught , amidst the torpor surrounding his return , he scored the second highest number of runs in the calendar year…only to see himself being shunted out again!
Ganguly‘s astute alacrity has often been misunderstood for his arrogance. He has thus faced the brunt of vicious campaigns against him motivated by feeling of revenge. Little did anyone think that an eye for eye would only make the whole world blind.
Even then he carried on..
What drove Ganguly?
Money?Fame?Power?
Money-he was amongst kolkatta’s most wealthy businessmen..could money have lured him to cricket?
Fame and power then-but he was connected to the mightiest people of Bengal,he already was a celebrity..
With a plethora of fame , power and money what was the impetus to carry on,even after repeatedly being dropped from the team?
It was his spirit his quintessential desire to perform for his country.
This flamboyant left hander forever changed Indian cricket’s fortune…
Despite all his criticism he has answered every time with his bat.
He has seen both the acne and nadir of success , yet still remains a gentleman.

Even today he fights , for what is rightfully his….for that is what is Ganguly’s life all about…

He continues to serve both India and world cricket as a role model , not only to cricketers many of whom he helped blossom and but also to the youth of our nation.

Ganguly is now more than a legendary cricketer ,an epitome of commitment ,he a symbol of a fighting spirit , which now is what defines Indian cricket.