Oh Captain, Our Dear Captain!

It is after a long hiatus that the column comments about a story. And oft has been the case, it is the India – Australia series, or rather, the end of it, that has prompted this. Well, not really. It is to say “Thanks” to our dear captain of old! The lovely Dada, or for the uninitiated – Prince of Kolkata or for the still cricket unaware people (like some close ones are) – Sourav Ganguly! Yes, the guy who used to appear on the Britannia ad – you know, some people are so ignorant …!

Sourav da, your remark that you were more disappointed with not scoring a century in the first innings than with doing a Bradmanesque stint in your last, is so very characteristic of you. But then, you played such an important role in your last test and the whole series. So, what if you did not get an opportunity to play a match saving innings like your bete noire … well, you were his adversary, not the other way round, I guess! You scored 3 runs more than Steve Waugh did on his last, and more importantly, India won the match and the series, something that most cricketers would just dream to achieve.

Your timing of the retirement was spot on, much like those caresses on the offside. And what redemption – to regain the Border-Gavaskar trophy at the very same ground …err the city that some say was the setting for the beginning of your downfall in your first essay, and in such an emphatic manner against the team that promised to play ‘new age’ cricket but was taught some age old wisdom by you guys – aptly named – the Fab Five, or as one channel put it yesterday – the league of extraordinary gentlemen!

As Siddharth Vaidyanathan lamented in his blog about the kind of role models that this school going generation would grow up to, I guess the previous generation grew up to soft people as their role models. Thanks to you all – Kumble, Dravid, Sachin, VVS and you for being the role models to our generation, soft where it mattered and hard on the cricket ground. And amongst them all, you gave us all the self-belief and helped us develop an attitude that helped us be proud of the little things that we did in our daily lives, without ever sounding arrogant.

And to see your animated gestures during the last few minutes of the match, captaining Team India once again, meant so much to so many of us. It was a specially endearing moment, to watch you smile when Dhoni walked with you asking you to take over the mantle one last time.

Thanks a lot … for all these years of great memories. Here’s to you … our dear captain from one of the millions of Indians … and among the few tens of thousands who came to the Chinnaswamy stadium in Bangalore to watch you play one last time in the first test of this series.

And thanks to our new captain for those small gestures yesterday that will make lots of parents look up to you as a good role model. Wah captain … our dear captain!