Sourav Bengaly

Being a fan of Sourav Ganguly and being a fanatic for Bengali regionalism are two entirely different things. Those protesting outside the Eden Gardens against Sourav Ganguly's exclusion from Team India with slogans such as 'No Sourav, No Cricket' seem to be not all interested with whether or not India wins the ODI against South Africa on November 25 at the ground. The only thing that seems to be of any consequence to them is whether Sourav Ganguly features in the final Indian twelve for the match. There is much hue and cry regarding Sourav Ganguly being better deserving a spot in the Team India squad than J.P. Yadav. Now how would the fans react if Ganguly is scheduled to bat at Yadav's spot, which is number nine in the batting order, that is when Ganguly, who has always been a wicket-taker is considered to bowl his full quota of ten overs? Incidentally, Yadav is not the worst batsman around. He is an opener of the Ranji and the Irani Trophies champion Railways. Zaheer Khan who has taken a bagful of wickets in all the matches of the recently-concluded Duleep Trophy deserves a place in the Indian squad ahead of Ganguly. Zaheer was good enough for accounting for Ganguly for naught in the Duleep Trophy finals. Still there is not much complaining from his hometown Baroda against him being left of the Indian squad. Ganguly, on the other hand, did characteristically pick up a few wicket, but managed to make his mark with the bat only in the first match where he scored a gutsy century, failing to impress even against the weak visiting Zimbabweans. Consistency is what is required of Sourav Ganguly and patience is what is required of his fans.