One doesn’t know whether to curse politicking more or the system we are living in. Day in and day out, it’s politics in its uglier than ugliest incarnation that our eyes meet with. And, the so-called gentleman’s game called cricket has a quite a bountiful of it. Ever since the eruption of Chappell-Ganguly row, certain repulsively unpleasant developments have taken place in the cricketing arena, the last in the series being dropping of Ganguly from the Test team.
While nobody would question the wisdom of the selectors in dropping Saurav and including Mumbai opener Wasim Jaffer in the team, the manner in which it was executed is certainly questionable. The Kotla Test was supposed to be an acid test for Ganguly, who was not just stripped of the captaincy of the Indian squad, but had also been denied a berth in either Test or ODI team. He did perform well in Kotla and amassed 79 runs, which gave India an edge over the Lankans and won by 188 runs.
So, in any case, performance of Ganguly was certainly not the reason for axing the most successful former Indian skipper. Then what was it that led to his unceremonious ouster? Was it that Ganguly was made a scapegoat in the everlasting war between Sharad Pawar and Jagmohan Dalmiya camps, as the former wanted to get rid of all those in the good books of Dalmiya? Or, is it that the coach Greig Chappell’s stature has grown so large that he can call shots even from the fences?
Again, if this is the fate team selectors had decided given shape to for Ganguly, why should he have been included in the team, in the first place? What’s the fun in humiliating a senior player like him? Sadistic pleasure?
Whatever. The ultimate casualty is Indian cricket!
Also Read: Good Bye Dada :: A Begali View of the Incident
