Take a Bow, Sourav Ganguly

Throughout my life, many people have asked me- Why Sourav Ganguly? Why not the great Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar? Why not the charismatic Mahendra Singh Dhoni? Or the swashbuckling Virender Sehwag? And, I have maintained my answer all along- Because, no one can silence the critics like he can. 

Every single time you would think of him as down and out, he would get back up, refusing to read the writing on the wall, refusing to take that final nail in the coffin, and would prove over and over again that it ain’t over, until he says its over. 

It so happened today, that I was watching him face Deccan pacer Dan Christian, when a friend of mine seated nearby says “Ganguly looks so scared when facing these fast bowlers”. The next ball, he charged down the pitch and swatted the ball through extra-covers for four, and with a smug smile, I thought, “He always proves them wrong! And how!”

I simply do not know of a player/celebrity/person who can polarize the opinions of people like Sourav “Dada” Ganguly can. If he has a million fans, he would certainly have two million critics, and that is where the beauty of this whole comeback thing lies. Just the other day, Navjot Singh Sidhu (lol) said about him, "A ship looks great when it's at the anchor but it's not meant for that..it has to sail", and frankly I don’t even know what he was implying here. But, if he meant that Ganguly is out of place in the IPL, which I think he did, Ganguly has already made him look like a fool (Not that he doesn’t look like one already). 32 runs out of 32 balls is no big deal, but for a cricketer who hasn’t had a bat in his hand for five months, to come out and make a statement like he did (and come down the track and smash a spinner for a six like only he can) just typifies the obvious, “YOU CAN NEVER COUNT THIS MAN OUT!”

Above all, to have the courage, the grit to fight against politics, against the system and hold your own in a country as corrupt as India gives me and the other millions of fans the hope and the motivation that “Maybe one man can make a difference after all.”

On behalf of every single person who has been an ardent follower of your Infi-Godly drives through the offside and the massive towering sixes over the years, “I SALUTE YOU DADA!”