Dada was his own man, and ours too

Some years after he had earned cricketing immortality by clean bowling Bradman for a duck in his final innings, Eric Hollies was to write: "I don’t think Don saw it properly. He seemed to have tears in his eyes." We have no word yet from Jason Krejza on what he thought Sourav Ganguly’s state of mind was when he took guard for his last innings, but it would be fair to say that the batsman must have been similarly overcome with emotion.

Cricketers, whichever country they come from, whatever their background and calibre, are sensitive souls at their core. Retiring from the sport after spending the better part of youth in its struggles, triumphs and tragedies can be overwhelming. In an oblique sort of way retirement is also a reminder of mortality, whatever the record or degree of greatness, and heightens the sense of loss. Out first ball! Heck, even Bradman got two!

Any further comparison with Bradman would, of course, be ludicrous and downright unfair to Ganguly. That removed, Ganguly stands every other scrutiny with distinction. He has been a terrific batsman, outstanding captain and in many ways, the man singly responsible for providing Indian cricket the self-belief and ambition to match Australia, the best team in the world, blow for blow over the past decade.

Indeed, his batting prowess has been obscured by his hugely successful captaincy. In the Indian context, take away Sunil Gavaskar,
Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid, Viru Sehwag and Vijay Merchant — who would rate among the top 50 batsmen in cricket history — and Ganguly’s value purely as a batsman becomes telling.