As India celebrates the famous win over the mighty Aussies and cherishes the Border - Gavaskar trophy, the Prince of Kolkata bows out of international cricket. His last series has been wonderful for him and he leaves behind a grand legacy.
As tributes pour in, Dada can be proud of what he did for the nation. It is commendable that this gutsy man successfully faced stiff opposition from many people who were not half good as himself throughout his career.
To start with, Saurav was depicted as a rich, arrogant, spoilt young man. Many yester year stars could not come to terms with the presence of such a privileged person in the Indian dressing room. They doubted his dedication and lost no time in attacking the newcomer. But Dada started off with a century in his debut test match, that too in foreign soil. For wise men, this would surely be ominous signs of what Dada would bring to Indian cricket.
Then the pundits were criticizing his perceived inability to face quality fast bowlers, especially the bouncers (incredibly some continues to do so even now). It is true that Dada had some problems in this front, but he more than compensated for it with his extravagant off-side hits, his wonderful natural timing. And when Dada chose to come down the track to any bowler, spin or pace, it was a treat for the cricket lover. The balls started disappearing in to the stands quite often and Dada made his presence felt.
Then came the dark era of Indian cricket. The match fixing scandals plunged Indian cricket to the depths of despair. This coupled with some uninspired captaincy from several stand in captains drove cricket fans away from the stadiums. Many, including your faithful blogger, started to keep away from the living room to escape the live telecast in the television.
When Dada was made the captain of the beleaguered Indian team, he inherited a dressing room full of egos, players with low self confidence and some with much less self esteem. A bunch of losers who were referred to as ‘ a group of highly talented players, who had many records among them, but who invariably failed to perform as a team. The performance of the Indian team out side of the sub-continent was totally amateurish.
Dada turned things around and look where the Indian team is now. He built a team of confident men. He backed his young inexperienced but talented players like Bhajie, Yuvi, Lakshman and Zaheer. He helped the senior players like Sachin, Dravid and Kumble settle down into their own tailor-made roles as mentors and role models. For me, this is his single most important contribution. Dada even relinquished his opening slot in one day team for Sehwag.
The opening partnerships between Dada and the Master Blaster is legendary and to make way for a junior player was a wonderful gesture, one that many of his critics would not have even thought about.
The single most vivid picture in memory? Dada taking off his shirt and waving it to celebrate a famous victory abroad. For pundits, this was a shocking display of arrogance....
For common cricket fans like me, this he the mascot of young, vibrant, confident Indian team...We knew this team was bound to conquer the world...We knew Dada had done what it takes to lay the foundations for the future captains to build on....
The Australians believed they were the only ones who have the right to sledge, be aggressive and play mind games. Dada paid them back in style, fluttering many, including the Indian pundits. Time and again, Dada was humiliated, thrown out of the captaincy and the team. Each time Dada came back stronger than ever. Even in his last series, he made the previous team of selectors look like a bunch of foolish amateurs.
Dada had such illustrious men as Dravid, Lakshman and Sehwag as compatriots. The fact that these four men carved out a niche for themselves while playing alongside the all time great Sachin Tendulkar speaks a lot about their talent and calibre. These fabulous group of players have given us lot to be proud of.
Dada sure has some more cricket left in him. But, I believe it is the right time to bid adieu. Especially since it would not take more than two bad innings for him to be thrown out of the team again.
After all, from being a Prince, he has long ago graduated to being the Maharaja of Indian cricket and desrves a Royal farewell...
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