Will Ganguly inspire his team by his confidence?

In an era when sport is nothing but a Kurukshetra, resurrection is but a synonym of valediction for the vanquished. Gone are the days when sport was heralded as the ultimate winner, immaterial of whether the victor was a David or a Goliath.

Cricket in general and Indian cricket in particular has not been an exception to this. Champions at home, Indians are deemed to be fit only for the gallows after every abysmal show abroad. And quite often, the captain has been made the scapegoat. Of late, it seems to be a fad to have a new man at the helm after every defeat.

In 1999, after the lacklusture World Cup campaign, Md Azharuddin was thrown into cricketing wilderness and a reluctant Sachin Tendulkar was reinstated as the captain. Given his stature, a herculean effort was expected of him every time he took the field. But being human after all, he failed.

It is unfortunate that India lost a record five Tests on the trot under him. A combination of cricket politics and a self imposed restraint on his instincts saw Tendulkar perform below par as a batsman, as well as captain.

Following the disastrous tour of Australia, a dejected Tendulkar announced his resignation on the eve of the Test series against South Africa. This paved the way for the `Prince of Calcutta' to take over the mantle of leadership. Like Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly also led from the front. As one of the leading batsmen in the world, he was confidence personified and he took the attack to the South Africans and even seemed to inspire his more illustrious opening partner. The five match series of onedayers saw both of them in the run for the man of the series award.

After gloriously winning the oneday series in India, Ganguly was on a high as he led his team to Sharjah. But the tri-nation series saw an insipid performance by the Indians. The wounds inflicted on the team following the recent defeats in the Test matches have obviously not been fully healed.

All the same, the one heartening factor has been the elevation of Ganguly as captain. Unlike his predesessor, Ganguly has gone into every match with the utmost confidence in himself and his team. By playing positively, he has shown the way for the others in the side to follow suit. He has been innovative, even in the face of dire situations and has never been afraid of facing the consequences. One instance that comes readily to mind is the move to give Tendulkar long bowling spells and the experimentation to have Rahul Dravid bowl in crunch situations. Such bold decisions have to be commended, more so because of the fact that he remained unaffected even after the tactics backfired.

Moreover, Ganguly has so far shown that he really means business. For once, an Indian captain in recent times has set the tone by resting the thoroughly out of shape Javagal Srinath after a sub-standard bowling performance against the South Africans.

Ganguly dares to think different and be different. He is obviously a thinking captain who is willing to try out his various strategies on the field of play. However what is to be seen is whether his teammates now take a leaf out of his book and shake off their poor run. Will they back their captain and succeed in setting right the Indian record of the recent past?