A career that began with a century at Lord’s in 1996 has come to an end with a golden duck at Nagpur in 2008. In between, one of the greatest one day batsmen and India’s most successful Test captain Saurav C Ganguly has provided us with some wonderful memories – the debut at Lord’s, the spectacular run at Toronto in 1997, the big hitting blitz at the ‘99 World Cup, the thrashing in dying light at Leeds in 2002, the thrilling ‘chin music’ counter-attack at Brisbane in 2003, the double hundred against Pakistan in 2007 are a few that immediately come to mind among countless other one day innings.
More than his outstanding one day career and a fulfilling Test career, Dada’s legacy would definitely be his exploits as a captain. Taking charge during the aftermath of the match-fixing controversy, he was the first to bring a sense of professionalism to the team by bringing in a professional coach in John Wright. Unlike most captains before him was able to influence the selectors in getting the team he wanted. He had an uncanny ability to identify talent and, most importantly he backed the players he trusted to the hilt. Yuvraj, Kaif, Sehwag, Harbhajan and even Dhoni were all unearthed by him. He was able to motivate, inspire and extract the best from his players. I think Dravid’s one day game changed and prospered for the better after he was entrusted the additional responsibility of keeping wickets. His greatest accomplishment is the confidence and winning attitude he brought to the team; In the words of Steve Waugh
he injected some toughness and combativeness into a side that had often tended in the past to roll over and expose a soft underbelly.
All were not roses in his career though. If the performances in Australia and the win in Pakistan in 2004 were the peak of his accomplishments, things went downhill from there. His batting became listless, leadership uninspiring and his spat with Greg Chappell eventually forced him out of the team. True to character, after everyone had written him off, he came back to the team in early 2007 and the last 18 months has arguably been his most consistent run as a batsman.
He may be gone, but he will forever remain as the God of offside stroke play.
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