da betway： ©AFP Sourav Ganguly in power glasses came down through the West Gateentrance of the Wanderers on a lovely Tuesday afternoon
Ashish Shukla04-Oct-2001
©AFPSourav Ganguly in power glasses came down through the West Gateentrance of the Wanderers on a lovely Tuesday afternoon. It was a kindof day where sun, shade and breeze were in such perfect harmony thatyou felt even a person in coma would be stirred.The last few days had been spent in gleaning inside information aboutthe South Africans. Ganguly, of course, has his own opinion aboutShaun Pollock and his men and, as is to be expected from him, he is attimes dismissive of them.Ganguly can’t see the Proteas scorching the turf consistently without’White Lightning’ Allan Donald. Mfunenko Ngam, of course, has been inthe news a great deal and Ganguly is certain that the South Africawill let the ‘Eastern Express’ loose on them in at least one Test,possibly the last one at Centurion. But as far as the Prince ofKolkata is concerned, it is Donald and Donald alone who is the mainthreat.
©CricInfo”I remember him in Nairobi (the ICC mini World Cup) last year and hewas the same Donald I have known all these years – lovely variationsand pacey as ever,” says Ganguly in a voice full of admiration. Themention of Roger Telemachus’ name also catches his attention. But notthose of Shaun Pollock and Jacques Kallis!”I also feel they are a bit light in the batting,” says Ganguly asplucks a few tufts of grass here and there while collecting histhoughts. “I have seen Neil McKenzie and he is not the kind of batsmanyou would back against spinners.”Far away in the middle of Wanderers, an imposing coliseum made up oftiers and more tiers, the rest of the Indians are practicing theirthrows, after having been broken down into two divisions facing eachother.Ganguly is with another Sourav, a certain Sourav Chakravorty, whoonce played with him on the of Kolkata and is now basedin Johannesburg. “He was my captain at club and he is now the captainof the Indian team,” gushes Sourav the pretender, as captain Gangulysmiles benignly.Ganguly thinks the present South African team is not a patch on theAustralians. “They (the Australians) have four fast bowlers and all ofthem are match-winners,” says Ganguly, while comparing the SouthAfricans with the likes of Glenn McGrath, Jason Gillespie, Brett Leeand Shane Warne. Perhaps it is running the names those big names overin his mind that throws up the next statement. “Australia is in aclass of its own in world cricket at the moment,” he states with afinality that is hard to dispute.He is surprised to know the South Africans are playing six back-toback Tests against Australia, three away and three at home, afterseeing off the Indians and wonders how the Proteas would cope with thestrain of it all. “They (the Aussies) play with a rare intensity,”states Ganguly. “There is no letting up, they just squeeze out of allyour resources.”Ganguly, interestingly, has the highest average among internationalbatsmen who have played against South Africa in one-dayers. He is alsoamong a handful of batsmen who have two one-day hundreds against theProteas. “And I missed two, including an unbeaten 97 in the World Cupopener at Hove,” Ganguly reminds gently.Incidentally, Ganguly’s 141 at Nagpur during the now infamous home2000 one-day series is the highest by an Indian batsman against SouthAfrica. The score is put in the right perspective when one remembersthat no international batsman has crossed 150 against South Africa ina one-day international.The Indian skipper feels that himself and the rest of the batsmen canhandle everything the South Africans throw at them. But, Ganguly adds,it would have been helpful if Hemang Badani could also have comealong. The skipper feels sorry for the classy Badani, who sadly raninto a terrible patch in Sri Lanka. One could see he is still willingto back him. After all, a certain Sourav Chandidas Ganguly wentthrough a similar ordeal by fire when he started his internationalcareer in 1991.