He should come back as skipper. Review on Saurav Ganguly

Some may call this hackeneyd topic. Maybe not. But then in a country where guys whose cricketing back ground often raise questions decide the cricketing future of the country, I guess its never to late to say what you have to say.

India has over the years produced 'N" number of great players. No doubts about that. But ever since we started watching cricket, we were well used to the image of meek Indian cricketers trying too hard to be the only gentlemen on the field of the so called "gentleman's game". Other teams sledged and shouted at them, Umpires took them for granted, media and public often took them for granted. But year after year the image remained unchanged-- cowering, meek, shy, uncertain and certainly not demanding. "anything is fine with us" was the attitude and All pervious Indian players are gulity of this timidness what they'd call sportsman spirit-- Just like the weak kid talking about making peace with the class bully.We have paid heavily for that many a time.A unified command was missing all along. A Command that ordered, demanded and didn't ask. Enter Sourav-- Enter the tiger-- and the gut and grit was instantaneous.soon our team rose from the ashes like a phoenix--

whether or not Sourav is among the best batsman in business may be debated by some (but he's surely a better bet than many others around).However beyond doubt he was and still is the most succesful, ferocious, cunning, shrewd and aggresive captain in these parts of the world . Well, we've been playing as gents for too long. Long enough to digest verbal insults from the types of Lili, Miandaad, Alan Donald and the rest. We never complained. But all that did a turn over with this chappie. He matched Steve Waughs cool venom with the same and beat him in his own game.Taught Flintoff that baring your chest in front of respectable people is not a one way thing either. Good! We are not to be taken for granted mates!

Cricket is not just about thumping the ball over the fence, making records and running at 100 mph. It requires a lot of brain. Especially for that man who calls the shots and plots his battle. You see, on the field, its not just cricket anymore. A lot of things go on. Its like a nerve game as you stand armed at the battlefront. The brain has to be applied. Any means to defeat the enemy needs to be deployed. That's the way sports is these days. And thats where Sourav is unquie. Not only he has a super cricketing brain and knows every tiny aspect of the game, he knows each and every trick in the book. Many matches have been won or lost by using such tricks. Its part of gaming strategy.

On the field Sourav leaves no stone unturned to apply his strategies and put the adversory at maximum disadvantage. THat's what war is all about. I remember a few years ago, 2 Pak batsmen asked for a pad change and tried to convert the opportunity into a mini break, One of them was Salman .B and he was well set-- Sourav strolled in, harrying the guys, disrrupting their chill-out and repeatedly asking them to pad up and complaning to the umpire. He knew, if these guys cool down, they'll go a long way. So he created enough ruckus to distract them and as sure as apples they soon fell. I wonder if any other gentleman Indian skipper would have actually bothered. He might have joined the Pakis for a chill-out himself and improve bilateral relations!

And aggro? Yes, I dare you to dare me is Sourav's way of checking his enemy. Who else can do that with such elan and confidence? He so succesfully used it to kill. That's what is called a killing attitude. That swagger, that personality-- It makes you do things. Inspires you to give your best. Makes you rise to the occasion. I'm sure the players under his tenure will agree with that. When was the last time we saw such a unified approach in the Indian team? In yester years inter-team rivalry was legendary. I come, I play ,I go was the bottom line-- Not my sole problem. Gavsakar can't stand Kapil, Siddhu won't field, and so on-- Game be damned thrice. But Sourav changed that all.

Then there was that horrible regional bias too. Ganguly changed that didn't he? No other player in the history of Indian Cricket can claim that! Imran Khan did that during his hey days.

Now the crux of the issue: Well anybody can see we have a bunch of guys with no pre-defined role

in the team, and many of them, dare I say, are no great shakes either. Sourav can easily replace them with his credo. So can Zaheer and Kumble so to speak.

If India needs to be anywhere near that cup, they just can't do without his cricketing brain and his "I'm gonna take you down" attitude.The teams sure are going to deploywhatever ammo they've got. By dint of his sucessful and aggresive captainship alone, Sourav deserves it to be back at the helm of affairs. Let us not forget the level upto where he pulled a bunch of youngsters last time. I still belive we lost because we got too aggresive and lost our cool then. It back-fired. Without him we may be jeopardising our nearest chance this time. But who cares? I also wonder if an Agarkar can get more wickets and score more runs than a sourav or say Kumble!

As for the current skipper, he's too much of a nice guy to get down to dirty business. As for the coach-- well have we seen a bigger clueless moron than him before somewhere? But ofcourse! among the BCCI.