The recent home series against Australia saw the two Indian cricketers Anil Kumble and Sourav Ganguly finally saying au revoir to their long cricketing careers. If on the one hand Anil Kumble was rightly regarded as a genuine leg-spinner who could also bat when the need arose, Sourav Ganguly has had his critics on the other.
As always, the Indian press has gone an extra mile in eulogising the Prince of Kolkata highlighting his record of 21 wins in 49 Tests as the best ever by an Indian captain. But the experts of the game never considered Saurav as a captain who had had leadership qualities.
According to their viewpoint as a captain he hardly ever rose to the occasion and would not set an example to the boys to look up to him when the chips were down. However, he was lucky enough to captain a side which had some outstandingly good players whose individual and joint contribution lead to the success of Indian cricket team.
I think Saurav Ganguly as a captain owed his success much to the performances of stalwarts like Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Virender Sehwag, Anil Kumble, Harbajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Nehra, Irfan Pathan, V.S.S. Laxman, Mongia, and Yuvraj Singh etc who excelled in their respective fields and were match winners in their own right. For their sheer excellence, they would have performed and won matches for the captain whom-so-ever they played under. In sharp contrast, Saurav's own performance both as a batsman or as a bowler, leave alone under trying circumstances, hardly made any difference.
Of course, there is a big difference between a good and an ordinary captain. A good captain is one who inspires an ordinary team to win crucial matches under difficult circumstances. Whereas, some time even an ordinary captain equipped with an exceptionally good team can also come off with flying colours. Saurav Ganguly is a prime example of the latter case.
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