Sourav Ganguly... realistic ambition or optimistic daydreaming?

Sourav Ganguly has been the premier left hander to have ever played Test or ODI cricket for India. He has been a celebrated Indian captain, and now is an ex-captain and a ex-player(?). His comments on reaching Northants for his stint in County Cricket make for interesting reading.

If you ask me, they encapsulate the man. Ganguly lead India with a lot of imagination. Very often, cynics might add, a lot of Indias success and Indias quality was in his imagination as well. While he was captain, it always sounded right - the players man, backing his players to the hilt. The reality of it all is, that in his time, India was a side with a mediocre bowling attack which stayed competitive in Test cricket by sheer weight of batsmanship from the middle order, and in later years from Virendra Sehwag. Harbhajan Singhs great form won Ganguly a historic series win against Australia. That this was down to 4-5 sterling individual performances - (Tendulkar, Dravid, Laxman with the bat, Harbhajan and Tendulkar with the ball) is undeniable. What Ganguly brought was a never say die spirit and an almost childlike hatred for losing.

Lets examine some of his claims then:

Ganguly played 279 ODI games for India. If we consider his last 100 ODI games for India (a reasonable number - 36% of his career) his record reads as follows:

Played 100, 97 innings, 7 not outs, 3146 runs at 34.95 with 5 hundreds and 19 fifties.

If we discard the minnow countries - Bangladesh, Kenya, Namibia, Netherlands, UAE, this his record reads:

Played 88, 85 innings, 4 not outs, 2362 runs at 29.16.

This is over 88 consecutive games in a career of 279 games - 31.5% of the total games he has played.

Consider the fact that he batted in the top 3 most times, and at number 4 at the very least, then that is by any standards a very low average. Add to that the fact that his fielding, which was moderate to begin with, has gone into steady decline over the last 3-4 years, and you have what can only be termed as a cricketing liability, especially when hes not captain.

India do not have the strength to carry someone with that kind of record over 4 long years. Yet, they have.

If we look at his last 50 games, (just to check if there has been a revival after a slump), then the story is as follows:

Overal
Played 50, 49 innings, 3 notouts, 1403 runs, 0 hundreds, 10 fifties at 30.50
Not counting games against the minnows, it reads

Played 43, 42 innings, 3 notouts, 1050 runs, 0 hundreds, 6 fifties at 25.00

So it gets worse.

Contrary to popular opinion then, the Selectors are not fools, and have what must be regarded as a brave call to look to the future. Now, the current lot may lose elections come september and the next selectors may recall Ganguly, but they will have to do so in the face of the statistics mentioned above. Gangulys record over his last 100 games would have seen him lose his place in any ODI side in the world if he hadnt been captain.

Who would you choose today if you had a choice?

Suresh Raina age 19, brilliant fielder, promising middle order batsman?

Mohammad Kaif ,age 25, brilliant fielder, consistent ODI performer inspite of having batted at 6 or 7 for most of his life?

or

Sourav Ganguly, age 33, poor fielder, once great ODI batsman, been in terminal decline in both forms the game for well over 4 years now??

I think the selectors have got it right.


http://cricketingview.blogspot.com