Starting another life
Judhajit
25-Feb-2013
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The tributes continue to pour in for Sourav Ganguly. From the time he announced his retirement, he has completely been at ease and mentally prepared to go, finish with the game and start another life. In an interview to Sanjeeb Mukherjea in CNN-IBN he also says that losing his place in the side was worse than giving up the captaincy.
People like Pele and Maradona have gone. They are the greats but everybody has to go. Even Pete Sampras went because your body changes; it cannot be the same when you are 23-24 and when you are 36-37. In international sports, when you are expected to deliver day in and day out, moment you drop from your standards, people will start talking.
Bobili Vijay Kumar in the Times of India gives him the title of 'The Robin Hood of Indian cricket' as he salutes the charismatic leader who changed the way India played its cricket.
No, he didn't exactly rob the rich to feed the poor; he didn't really fight against tyranny or injustice either, as the Prince of Thieves had so enduringly done in medieval times. But in a queer sort of way, Ganguly symbolized the same fight: good over bad.
Around the time he took over India's captaincy, in 2000, cricket was trapped in the match-fixing quagmire: fans had lost their faith and the biggest stars their lustre and trustworthiness.
Harsha Bhogle in his blog on Espnstar.com remembers an interview where Ganguly spoke of the best captains getting it right seven out of ten times. However, he was modest in his own estimate: five out of ten and even when he was wrong his team-mates believed he was wrong in trying to be right.
For more Surfer on Ganguly, click here.