The last time I met Sourav Ganguly was in Sri Lanka during the Test series a couple of months ago.
Dada was a forlorn figure - in the middle, in the dressing room and in the team hotel. After slogging through a brutally hot and humid day in Colombo or at Galle, pool was quite obviously the favourite hangout of Team India players. But, not for Ganguly.
The Prince of Kolkata (as fondly called by Sir Geoffrey Boycott) usually preferred an early dinner in his room. When you are out of form, favour, the evenings generally tend to become longer than usual. Perhaps, it gave him all the time to take a look back at his long and illustrious career and also to ponder over when to call it a day.
That day came on Tuesday. As Ganguly addressed a packed room of eager geeks in Bangalore, someone in the BCCI would have had a wry smile on his face and someone in his hometown and cricket-mad Kolkata would've shed a tear or two. That's the way cricket is run in India; that's the way it is followed by millions of fans in the sub-continent.
But, let's forget it all for the next few weeks and enjoy the 'God on the off-side' take on the mighty Aussies for one last time. Till that time, you decide who should be the next to follow in Ganguly's footsteps.
Rahul Dravid? VVS Laxman? Anil Kumble? Or, even Sachin Tendulkar? Put on your thinking caps but don't forget to give Dada a standing ovation when he waves to the crowd one last time...
Factbox Ganguly
- Born on July 8, 1972 in Kolkata
- Made his ODI debut at the age of 19 vs Australia in Australia in January, 1992. So called 'attitude problems' see him being discarded from the team after just one match
- Makes a comeback in 1996, slams centuries in his first two Tests on the tour of England
- Takes over from Sachin Tendulkar as the skipper of the Indian cricket team in 2000
- Captained India in 49 Tests, led India to a record 21 Test wins including a historic 2-1 triumph over the Aussies at home in 2001
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