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Timing and positioning are hallmarks of great batsmen. And former India captain Sourav Ganguly is gifted on both these counts from the very first day in the top-rung of the game. During his playing days, he was considered the sweetest timer of the ball and the tale continues when it comes to dealing with off-field activities, writes Sanjib Guha.
Sixteen years back when Indian cricket was in doldrums following the match-fixing allegations labelled against top players, including the then skipper Mohammed Azharuddin. Fab Five – Ganguly, Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman and Virender Sehwag — took on the mantle of messiah and showed their chutzpah to the world. They carried on with the momentum for almost 15 years to change the perception from being a bunch of perennial losers to world No 2 in Tests.
Probably a similar scenario is about to emerge in Indian cricket following Lodha committee observations. Particularly, the observation that politicians and industrialists should stay away from the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). If this is implemented in the Indian cricket, there will be sweeping changes in cricket administration through ranks.
This is where Ganguly’s masterstroke comes. How? Let me discuss this point in detail. The Bengal southpaw showed all signs of being inclined to coaching soon after hanging up his boots eight years ago. Things too fell in place for him in the last few years with BCCI running into turmoil following Gurunath Meiyappan’s conviction of being involved in betting racket. The incident not only rocked the cricketing world but also jeopardized Chennai industrialist Narayanswamy Srinivasan’s chances of holding on to the power.
Ganguly during a programme organised to pay tribute to late BCCI president Jagmohan Dalmiya | IANS
As a result, 74-year-old Jagmohan Dalmiya was picked for the BCCI president’s role and Ganguly was in the forefront again, repeating the combo of 2000 (when Ganguly was favoured to become the Team India captain following Tendulkar relinquishing the post). Soon, Ganguly, Tendulkar and Laxman were drafted into the cricket advisory committee for the betterment of cricket while Dravid was bestowed the role of mentor for the colts. It needs to be mentioned that Dalmiya, being a septuagenarian, wasn’t in his elements during his second term as BCCI president and Ganguly has been in the thick of things even with the administrative matters since then. Most of the decisions were being taken in consultation with India’s one of the most successful skippers.
At a time when these changes were taking place amidst turmoil, Dalmiya suddenly passed away and the future of the advisors – Ganguly, Tendulkar and Laxman – became uncertain. Since the roles were not defined for these stalwarts at inception, people even started tagging this panel as a defunct one.
But Ganguly’s sense of timing again came into play. He took over the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) presidency (elevated from the secretary’s post) with the help of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and turned his attention to administration, from coaching. Yes, coaching could have fetched the Prince of Kolkata more money. Having known him for almost two decades, I can tell you with certainty that money was never a criteria for Ganguly, but power is.
The roadmap for the stylish batsman though isn’t as rosy as it may look to climb the ladder in the administrative quarter, it is not impossible either. With Shashank Manohar at helm, Ganguly won’t get the same favours as he used to during Dalmiya’s reign. Here, Lodha panel’s observation may play a big role.
It may be recalled that the Supreme Court of India had ordered Sunil Gavaskar to take charge of the proceedings and asked Srinivasan to step aside following match-fixing controversy. So it won’t be a surprise if the honourable court bars politicians from adorning the BCCI portfolios sooner than later. In that scenario, Ganguly would be a strong contender for a bigger role than just the CAB presidency. Even the BCCI presidency may not be out of reach.
Having said about the left-hander’s positives, there is one aspect that he will be put under the scanner is his multiple roles. Besides being the CAB president, he also has a lot of things on his plate currently – BCCI technical committee chairmanship, co-ownership of Indian Super League franchise Atletico de Kolkata, reality quiz show Dadagiri on Zee Bangla etc. The question to be raised is whether he will be able to do justice. His time management skills will be put to test like his man-management ability.
However, time will only tell whether Ganguly could rise through the ranks in cricket administration as he had on-field or whether that will help Indian cricket grow under the mentorship of Ganguly and leadership of Virat Kohli in the near future.
As far as conflict of interest allegations against him, the matter rests with the legal eagles to wriggle him out.
So, for the time being, let’s wait and watch!
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