Critics Beware: Dada-giri Continues

Someone called Allen E George once said,“People of mediocre ability sometimes achieve outstanding success because they don't know when to quit. Most men succeed because they are determined to.”

Other than that bit about mediocre ability, he could have been talking about a certain Sourav Chandidas Ganguly.  The guy simply refuses to give up! God (the one up there, not SRT) help the stomachs of those who wrote him off a bit too early, because I don’t think words, especially one’s own judgments on others, make for easily digestible food. Every time they write him off, he makes them eat their words.

At least twice in last 18 years, he has made his critics eat their words. When the kid who failed to score runs and carry drinks in 1992 turned up at Lord’s in 1996 and scored a 131, the naysayers of 1992 had to consume their judgments and applaud. He made them applaud for a full decade before facing off with Greg Chappell. Yeah the same guy who made his younger brother bowl underarm because as captain he could not think of any other way to save 6 runs off one ball!

He wrote emails. By writing emails, he ensured that Dada was not a part of the team that won the 2006 series in West Indies. Dada’s reply wasn’t that emphatic this time, but it was solid enough to ensure that Greg would have his emails for breakfast, lunch, and dinner for quite a few days between that Wanderers test match in  December 2006 to his final test in Nagpur in November 2008.

BCCI of course did not give him the chance to settle the ODI account that well. IPL so far has been a yo-yo ride as well. For two IPLs he did not perform as well as he and SRK would have liked and in the third too he was going horrendously – till last night.

But I saw him launch into Pragyan Ojha last night and I knew I had seen this earlier, when I saw him cover drive Dominic Cork repeatedly in 1996 and pull Andre Nel in 2006. Here was a man who was determined to win that personal battle, who did not care if he was ill-equipped to win, and who did not know when to quit. The perfect model for Mr. George’s quote above.

It is possible that Dada might go pfffft… after the bang of last night. But I for one, would not want to say that because first, I don’t like a snack of words. And second, I would rather take this opportunity to cheer the captain who taught the Indian cricket team to look the best in the eye and never give up. May he continue never giving up!