Let it be

From Anonymous, United States of America
Ganguly's recent comments have angered many. Clearly he has vented his frustration taking advantage of the fact that he is playing his last series. He would have told these to the world sooner or later, but announcement of his retirement has accelerated the outburst. I think nobody should deny that it is natural for him to feel the way he feels, the only question being asked is his sense of timing.

The dressing room needs to be a tightly knit unit now against the world's best side. I am actually not so sure about the hairstyle comment referring to Dhoni - he might well have been speaking of Yuvraj in context of the ODI squad. In fact that seems more natural, since most of his anger comes from his omission from the ODI squad. On top of that, add the fact that Dhoni was ICC's best ODI batsman this year - you have to be really not thinking if you say that about him. So Ganguly was engaging in measured aggression - as Yuvraj is not part of the current dressing room.

One has to also consider that he was talking to a Bengali daily in mother tongue probably - it tends to bring out more emotions. The comments might well have been more of a soliloquy uttered in trust instead of spoken for brazen publication. His measured and dignified behavior earlier at the press conference and interviews actually suggests the above. All the critics calling for his head now probably have never gone through the cycle of emotions that he did. Let us give the guy a break. He did lose himself a bit on that occasion.

Also, what qualities do you think made him the most successful captain overseas and home? What qualities do you think helped him make the fairytale comeback? Answer is aggression. Every weapon has positive and negative sides - the same aggression that catapults him to achieve the pinnacle of glory also pushes him to be edgy, snobbish looking, and rough with words. I know the answer is proper channelization - but spotting the same qualities that helped bring a new era of belief in Indian cricket messing up a personality pushed to the edge of despair - we can only quietly and maturely wait for him to regain composure.

We can feel bad, but being the media and fans, let us not start another round of mud slinging. Tombstones always bear the best words about a person. There is a reason. Let us remember Sourav Ganguly for all his good deeds, and give him the benefit of doubt on the bad ones - as long as the bad ones are not overdone. Anyone with me on that?