The Warrior Called Dada

Watching Sourav Ganguly raising his bat today after he got his fifty just signified his fighting spirit. In Chennai the other day there was a placard with Sachin Tendulkar’s picture saying “The government says there are 1411 tigers, they forgot to count 1.” I think we should make that two as dada would easily come in the fold of the tigers.
What amazes me about Sourav Ganguly is his fighting spirit. Even in adversities he has never given up. I remember, when I was in 11th and had a tough time passing my mother told me “Learn from Sourav Ganguly, look how he has made a comeback.” This was just after India had toured South Africa and Dada had made a successful comeback to the Indian Team. When he was made the captain of the Indian team he brought with him a killer instinct and a never say die attitude that helped him take on the Aussies in the famous 2001 series, 2003 world cup, the tour down under etc. Under him, the younger breed of cricketers like Yuvraj Singh, Md. Kaif and Zaheer Khan became match winners as he instilled a new attitude in the team. The captaincy had to end but little did anyone think that he would be dropped from the team itself. Dada roared back hard at his detractors and returned fitter and a much better player. People said that he was suspect againt the short ball but you could make out that he had worked on it. After the bad period in 2006 you could actually see him getting behind the shorter deliveries and playing them down on the ground. There were calls for him to retire in 2008 after the Sri Lanka tour but he had a last go at the Aussies and he played some crucial knocks. If you have a look at his career you will notice that he has always fought back after being dropped. Dropped after a solitary ODI in 1991 he was back in 1996. Dropped after a horrible controversy in 2005 back again the next year. He has stood up in the face of adversities and has emerged victorious on many occasions. During the start of this year’s IPL a lot of people including myself felt that he wasn’t up to the mark for the shorter format but he has shut our mouths for good. He has taken some blinders in the field and was back hitting the spinners out of the ground.
What youngsters must learn from him is his never say die attitude. More importantly all captains should learn from him. When you have a captain with an attitude like that it helps the team. When the leader believes anything is possible, the team too can believe. Dada has set a great example in front of us and it is the duty of captains (Indian Cricket Team) to come to keep his legacy alive with the spirit that he has imbibed in Indian Cricket when he became the captain.