| The mid eighties were the time when Bengal cricket | | | | steel. He had also acquired some basic lessons that he |
| was eagerly tracking around to find out its | | | | will start implementing eight years later. |
| representative for the national arena, mostly controlled | | | | His inclusion to the Indian side touring England in 1992 |
| then by the Bombay lobby. Though Kolkata was | | | | was similarly credited to Jagmohan Dalmiya - the |
| famous for its football passion, cricket was not much | | | | Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) strongman |
| behind - the city possessed Eden Gardens, a | | | | from Bengal and the newly emerged Bengal lobby. |
| magnificent cricket ground which was also the oldest | | | | After the departure of Navjot Singh Sidhu following an |
| and biggest in the country, numerous clubs were trying | | | | ugly spat with captain Azharuddin, Sourav was lucky |
| to raise aspirant Bradmans, Trumpers or Larwoods in | | | | enough to play his first Test at the Mecca of world |
| the vast stretch of the lush green maidan area. Local | | | | cricket - The Lords. The Sourav myth that will rule the |
| 'para' clubs regularly organized tennis ball cricket | | | | mind of millions for the next sixteen years was |
| tournaments. By and large, the local cricket buffs | | | | launched here with a classy 131 and the subsequent |
| fulfilled their appetite by involving themselves with | | | | century in the next Trent Bridge Test. From 1992 |
| devotional affection in this typical 'goly' (lane) form of | | | | onwards people referred to Snehashish as the elder |
| cricket. One day matches (ODIs) were still not so | | | | brother of Sourav. Though Snehashish played 59 first |
| popular and therefore a five day Test match in Eden | | | | class matches with a near forty average and made 6 |
| Gardens was something like a festival. The lucky ones | | | | centuries, he gradually faded away from the cricket |
| who had managed to grab a day's ticket packed their | | | | scene. |
| lunch early in the morning and floated in the festive | | | | There is nothing unknown to cricket followers about |
| wind towards Eden Gardens. The unlucky ones had to | | | | the controversial career graph of Sourav. The public |
| keep themselves satisfied with the vernacular | | | | opinions and emotions about him were always sharp |
| newspaper stories which used to devote their entire | | | | and divided all through his career. But there is a general |
| first page to cover the match and by the passionate | | | | consensus about one aspect - that this young man |
| radio commentaries. | | | | had single-handedly changed the way our national |
| When Doordarshan started direct telecasting Test | | | | cricket team played its cricket. Only with the exception |
| cricket, there were fewer households that had a | | | | of the Tiger Pataudi era, the Indian cricket team was |
| television set. Those houses which owned one, was | | | | universally recognized for its meek and surrendering |
| invariably swamped by community visitors from 9 | | | | approach. Indian cricket was mostly observed to follow |
| o'clock morning to afternoon till the days telecast was | | | | the achievements of individuals - not for the |
| over. Fans crowded in front of the majestic Grand | | | | achievements of a team. Sourav transformed Indian |
| Hotel, where the cricketers generally stayed during | | | | team into a rock solid unit, with a combative and thorny |
| Test matches to have a glimpse of the celebrity | | | | approach which caused lots of uneasiness for many |
| players. While Kolkata had every setting for cricket | | | | opponent super captains. What cricket journalist |
| phobia - all the enthusiasm were falling short because | | | | Harsha Bhogle observed as the basic persona of |
| the local heroes were unable to make any visible mark | | | | Sourav also became the identity of the team he led - |
| in the national side. After Pankaj Roy, Bengal couldn't | | | | not rude and disrespectful but defiant and increasingly |
| produce a cricketer who could wear the India cap for | | | | confident. This changeover was achieved with a one |
| a lengthy spell. | | | | point strategy that he had picked up from personal |
| Snehashish Ganguly was a talented cricketer in the | | | | experiences of his first tour - nurture young talents, |
| mid eighties Kolkata. The elder son of an affluent | | | | trust their ability and protect them from the parochial |
| father - a printer by profession but also a onetime | | | | trends that have always influenced Indian team building. |
| state player and widely known as a cricket enthusiast. | | | | By doing so, Sourav turned the younger players into |
| Snehashish was a fine left-hander batsman and an | | | | daring fighters who in return trusted him deeply. For the |
| occasional right-hand off break bowler. Cricket | | | | next five years after he was named the full-time |
| watchers of Kolkata held high expectation about this | | | | captain, India played 49 Tests, lost 13 and won 21 |
| local lad. In the 1989-90 seasons, Snehashish played six | | | | which include the 11 wins abroad. Tiger Pataudi, |
| Ranji Trophy matches, scored 439 runs with two | | | | considered by many as India's finest captain, led in 40 |
| centuries and finished with an average of 73.16. Apart | | | | Tests, lost 19 and won 9 including 3 wins abroad. Sunil |
| from his father, Snehashish also had an ardent | | | | Gavaskar led in 47 Tests, won 9 and Mohammad |
| follower in his family - his younger brother Sourav. | | | | Azharuddin captained in 47 Tests and won 14 of them. |
| When Sourav also started playing alongside him in the | | | | As a captain, Sourav achieved a winning percentage |
| Bengal team, people used to identify Sourav as the | | | | of 42.86 in Tests and 51.70 in ODIs. In both form of the |
| younger brother of Snehashish. | | | | game Sourav surpassed the achievements of all |
| From formation days Sourav was blamed for his | | | | previous Indian captains. |
| arrogance. His teammates of St. Xavier's School | | | | In his 16 years of international career, Sourav scored |
| cricket team complained against him to their coach. He | | | | 7217 Test runs including 16 centuries with an average |
| grew up in an opulent dwelling where his father had | | | | of 42.17 and took 32 wickets. He scored 11363 runs in |
| arranged an in-house multi-gym, a batting range and | | | | the ODIs including 22 centuries with an average of |
| rare cricket videos to watch - a facility most of the | | | | 41.02 and took 100 wickets. Among those who have |
| budding cricketers seldom get. He was picked for the | | | | scored over 10000 runs in the one day matches, only |
| Bengal team in 1989-90 after his initial stint in the Under | | | | Sachin Tendulkar and Ricky Ponting has a better |
| 15 tournament where he smashed a century against | | | | average than him. |
| Orissa. In the next Ranji Trophy season Sourav | | | | Even after these spectacular successes, Sourav |
| scored 394 runs with an astonishing near eighty | | | | always had to be 'reselected' as captain before every |
| average. In a 1991 Duleep Trophy match against West | | | | series. He was finally sacked in 2005 - first from |
| Zone in Guahati, Sourav hit a tidy knock of unbeaten | | | | captaincy and then as a member of the squad. Greg |
| 124 runs and earned a place in the Indian team under | | | | Chappell, the newly appointed coach of the Indian |
| Mohammad Azharuddin for the 1991-92 Australia tour. | | | | team gradually surfaced to be a manipulative and |
| Quite naturally, his inclusion was ridiculed as a quota | | | | megalomaniac individual, pooled himself along with the |
| selection. Sourav was then 19 years old. | | | | animus administrators like Kiran More and Raj Singh |
| In Australia, Sourav was accused for behaving like a | | | | Dungarpur (Dungarpur famously said at that time that, |
| spoilt brat, like a 'maharaja' who refused to carry the | | | | "Chappell is a genius; Sourav is much below him in |
| drinks or baggage of his seniors. Those were the | | | | stature") and was successful in getting rid of Sourav. |
| times when a junior member in the side felt obliged to | | | | Chappell only wanted docile players to maneuver his |
| do petty services for the senior members to gratify | | | | crummy scheme and his Indian henchmen had to |
| them. Sourav was definitely not a conventional junior | | | | accomplish their personal aversion agenda. Thankfully, |
| member though there are absolutely no proofs at all | | | | it did not take long to prove that Chappell is a total |
| that he was ever disrespectful about his seniors. An | | | | failure. After the disastrous 2007 World Cup |
| 'attitude problem' tag was stuck on him from the very | | | | performance of India, the scratchy Australian was duly |
| beginning of his career. He played one ODI, scored | | | | removed from his job. Whereas Sourav, within less |
| only 3, and failed to impress the selectors for the next | | | | than a year after his removal astoundingly bounced |
| four years. Keeping in mind the past treatments | | | | back into the team in 2007. He returned with a 98 run |
| delivered to other Bengal players of class - from | | | | ODI score against West Indies, became the top scorer |
| Shyamsundar Mitra to Sambaran Bannerjee by an | | | | with 534 runs and Man of the Series in the three-Test |
| extremely politicized and parochial selection process, | | | | series against Pakistan. Surprisingly omitted from the |
| many considered that Sourav's international career | | | | ODI side, he scored nearly 2000 Test runs including a |
| was finished. But Sourav didn't think so. The bitter | | | | double century. He had to prove a point. And he did it |
| experience of this tour tempered him bit by bit into | | | | in style. |
