When Sourav Ganguly landed in Kolkata after the Test series against Australia, he was no longer an Indian player. For Bengal, which put him on a pedestal higher than any of its other sons, an era had ended.
Now, in the quiet confines of his house in Kolkata, it's time to reflect on an unique career. It's time for life after cricket for Sourav Ganguly.
>> Dada's full interview on IBN Live
Some felt he couldn't play the bouncer, some laughed at his lack of athleticism, others took immense pride in his ability to galvanise a side. Sourav Ganguly's ability to polarise opinion led to one of the most fascinating dramas in Indian cricket. Yet, nobody can dispute that he was India's most successful Test captain - forging a winning unit from a bunch of talented, but directionless individuals - and nobody can argue about him being one of the greatest batsmen of all time.
It has been described as the Indian revolution, the tournament that will change the face of cricket forever. The Indian Premier League (IPL) introduced new levels of glamour and wealth to the game as soon as its first-auction was held.
Bangalore Royal Challengers will face Kolkata Knight Riders to kick off a six-week tournament featuring most of the finest talents in the world game.
IPL team-guide
Name: Bangalore Royal ChallengersOwner: Vijay Mallya
Ground: M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bangalore
Coach: Venkatesh Prasad
Captain: Rahul Dravid
Star player: Jacques Kallis
Most expensive player: Rahul Dravid, US$ 1.35 mln
Total cost of squad: US$ 5,795,000
Name: Chennai Super KingsOwner: India Cements
Ground: MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai
Coach: Keppler Wessels
Captain: Mahendra Singh Dhoni
Star player: Mahendra Singh Dhoni
Most expensive player: Mahendra Singh Dhoni, US$ 1.5 mln
Total cost: US$ 6,225,000
Name: Deccan ChargersOwner: Deccan Chronicle
Ground: Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, Hyderabad
Coach: Robin Singh
Captain: VVS Laxman
Star player: Andrew Symonds
Most expensive player: Andrew Symonds, US$ 1.35 mln
Total cost: US$ 6,105,000
Name: Delhi DaredevilsOwner: GMR Holdings
Ground: Feroz Shah Kotla, Delhi
Coach: Greg Shipperd
Captain: Virender Sehwag
Star player: Virender Sehwag
Most expensive player: Virender Sehwag, US$ 833,750
Total cost: US$ 6,372,500
Name: King's XI, PunjabOwner: Preity Zinta, Ness Wadia, Karan Paul and Mohit Burman
Ground: Punjab Cricket Association Stadium, Mohali
Coach: Tom Moody
Captain: Yuvraj Singh
Star player: Brett Lee
Most expensive player: Yuvraj Singh, US$ 1,063,750
Total cost: US$ 6,503,750
Name: Kolkata Knight RidersOwner: Shah Rukh Khan, Juhi Chawla & Jai Mehta
Ground: Eden Gardens, Kolkata
Coach: John Buchanan
Captain: Sourav Ganguly
Star player: Chris Gayle
Most expensive player: Sourav Ganguly, US$ 1,092,500
Total cost: US$ 6,222,500
Name: Mumbai IndiansOwner: Reliance Industries
Ground: Nerul, Mumbai
Coach: Lalchand Rajput
Captain: Sachin Tendulkar
Star player: Sachin Tendulkar
Most expensive player: Sachin Tendulkar, US$ 1,121,250
Total cost: US$ 5,496,250
Name: Rajasthan RoyalsOwner: Emerging Media
Ground: Sawai Mansingh Stadium, Jaipur
Coach: Shane Warne
Captain: Shane Warne
Star player: Graeme Smith
Most expensive player: Mohammad Kaif, US$ 675,000
Total cost: US$ 3,610,000
India's Rahul Dravid gestures to the crowd after scoring 10,000 runs, during the fourth day of the first test match of the Future Cup series against South Africa.
> AP Images
Indian Premier League team owners Bollywood stars Shahrukh Khan and Preity-Zinta confer at a press conference at the end of the auction of cricket players for the Indian Premier League in Mumbai, India.
Movie stars and moguls reached ever deeper into their pockets as the world's best cricketers went under the hammer at the player auction for the upcoming Indian Premier League Twenty20 competition.
> AP Images
India's Ishant Sharma, celebrates the wicket of Ricky Ponting of Australia, during the one-day international at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in Australia.
> AP Images
The Symonds affair and the charge of racial abuse laid against Harbhajan-Singh by Ricky-Ponting could change the way in which international cricket is regulated.
Newspaper reports seem to suggest that the umpires didn’t hear the exchange that gave rise to the charge. Channel 9 has reviewed its audio tapes and found no record of the offensive comments either.
The other possibility is that in the course of the hearing, Tendulkar, who was batting with Harbhajan at the time and who seemed to have heard part of the exchange, isn’t able to whole-heartedly exonerate Harbhajan.
However, if neither tape nor Tendulkar backs up the Australian charge, then international cricket’s in trouble. Cricket has been down this road once before.
Some years ago Rashid-Latif was accused by Adam-Gilchrist of calling him a ‘white c__t”. Australian cricketers famously leave on-field quarrels on the field.
Ponting has chosen to take Harbhajan to ‘court’. But if Ponting can’t come up with the evidence for a ‘conviction’, if his case is based on 'Symonds' word.
Players and officials will be asking for stump microphones to be left on all the time, so that allegations of this sort in the future can be settled by technology.
Via Cricinfo
On a day when three batsmen engineered rescue acts in bowler-friendly Belfast, India prevailed, sneaking a thrilling six-wicket win to clinch the Future Cup.
It was India's first one-day series triumph outside the subcontinent since their memorable Natwest-Series win in 2002 and will provide them a big boost.
South Africa made a match of it, thanks largely to the crackling 99-run stand between Herschelle Gibbs and Justin Kemp, but both those innings were overshadowed by a sizzler from Yuvraj Singh.
News via Cricinfo > Future Cup, 2007
