Saurav Ganguly, perhaps the most iconic personality of Indian cricket, captains India to a successful victory moments before I write this.

In a nice farewell gesture, Dhoni allowed Ganguly to take over the reins for the final few overs of the test match. Interestingly, and for trivia freaks, Ganguly had taken over captaincy for the first time on this very day 8 years ago.

Being at work, like most people on a Monday morning, I was hooked up live on cricinfo’s commentary stream. When the last wicket fell, after the description of the ball and the euphoria, the paragraph from the commentator ended with this line – “Dravid puts his hand over Ganguly’s shoulder”.

That was the last line, post which of course the celebrations began to be described. But that was the defining moment. The moment when the line was drawn and a generation was closed out. The celebrations were the main focus. Like a thin line between the, cliched, class and the masses. 

Latest Update: Ganguly does just what I was hoping for! 11 fours, 3 sixes and a score of 98!!
A couple of commentary lines from cricinfo:

26.6 Gayle to Ganguly, FOUR, Four runs!! Ganguly paddles sweeps a poor leg-side delivery for another boundary. Dada on fire

30.6 Bravo to Ganguly, SIX, Classic dada!! dances down the pitch and lofts gayle high,high, high over long on for a massive six,ball out of the ground

Since we weren’t getting that new sports channel here, I had to make-do with text commentary on cricinfo. Nevertheless, this is wonderful news!!

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The biggest comeback of recent times is this one – Ganguly opens tomorrow in the 1st ODI vs. West Indies.

Needless to say, but still will be said, I am happy.
The Prince shall walk into the Nagpur sun and hopefully cannon a few fours through the heavy offside cordon before starting the massacre of the spinners.
Ganguly’s short jog down the pitch with a graceful swerve of the bat to a leg-spinner is one of the beautiful images that this era’s sporting arena has provided us with.

Read this article by Siddhartha Vaidyanathan at cricinfo.
Excerpts (emphasis mine):

Ganguly hasn’t played a one-day international for India since September 2005. Ironically – yes, that word again – he’s managed seven Tests in that period, ironical because Ganguly in one-dayers is colossal compared to Ganguly in Tests. Few have blended bravado and skill so deftly in the first 15 overs and almost nobody has trotted down the track to 150kph thunderbolts and slotted them over long-off.

His half-hour workout today, divided between the fast bowlers and the spinners, was the most exciting part of a rather mundane nets session. Apparently simulating the first 15 overs of an ODI, he swung his bat merrily. He spanked Zaheer Khan, who was the sharpest bowler on the day, RP Singh and Sreesanth – his short arm jab off RP Singh that soared into the stands was most eye-catching. The spinners were simply mangled. Harbhajan Singh was clattered for two huge sixes, Ramesh Powar received some back-foot peppering and the lesser known net bowlers didn’t stand a chance.

Too much hype? Maybe yes.
But fanatics like me have just one thing to say – God now returns to the offside and is going to stay there for quite a while.

Good times are here again. Sourav Ganguly returns to the Indian cricket team.
Technique or no-technique, Ganguly continues to remain one of my favourite Indian cricketers (the others being Laxman and Dravid).

Dravid is beyond excellence but does not seem to have managed to make a team out of his players. Individually he is brilliant, a super-star in the true sense of that word. But there has been a dismal failure on the part of Greg and him in building a team. India seems to have slipped back to the pre-Wright-Ganguly days when it was a motley bunch of extremely talented individuals. The whole is now less than the sum of the parts. Whatever that means, you get the point.

It will be ofcourse interesting to see how Greg and Ganguly get along in the dressing rooms, no pun intended. Ganguly, lacking superior talent, was the person who created Team India, the blue brigade, the team that won.

It will be too much to ask to reinstate Ganguly as the captain since a lot of damage has already been done and tinkered egos are harder to satiate.

However, what would be interesting to see is how Ganguly copes with the enormous pressure that shall rest on his once-broad shoulders as he walks towards the pitch in the African continent.
The sun shall be beating down on him, the bowlers would be waiting to throw the cherry at his ribs, the non-striker would be praying that he doesn’t get his former captain run-out, Ganguly would be hoping that the next nick does not go down the second slip’s throat, Dravid wouldn’t know whether to wish ill or wish good for his former friend, Dada would hesitate a twitch-little before coming down the track to a spinner for his famous fresh-from-the-oven sixes, the Left in Kolkata’s assembly shall cover its face in anxiety, would a 100 be required to cement his place or would a difficult 50 do, Vengsarkar would be busy in transit since he has been entrusted the role of messenger between Sharad Pawar and the team, Kiran More wouldn’t watch the match.
Amidst all this Ganguly creams a four through the covers and announces the return of the prince. Boycott gets a heart-attack.

Ladies and gentlemen, I leave you with my favourite quote from the cricketing world:
“On the offside, first there is God and then there is Sourav Ganguly” – Rahul Dravid

If you are utterly bored and don’t know why you are in this world: Read what the Left has been upto in Kolkata.