When ersatz Sourav outdid Sachin

<div class="section1"><div class="Normal"><script language="javascript">doweshowbellyad=0; </script></div> <div align="left" style="position:relative; left: -2"><table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="2" align="left" border="1" width="32.1%"> <colgroup> <col width="100.0%" /> </colgroup> <tr valign="top"> <td width="100.0%" colspan="1" rowspan="1" style="" valign:="" bottom="" background-color:="" f3f3f3=""> <div class="Normal"><img src="/photo/693312.cms" alt="/photo/693312.cms" border="0" /><br /><span style="" font-size:="">Sourav Ganguly holding a memento, presented for his contribution to Indian Cricket by Rammohan Mission in Kolkata, Saturday.(PTI photo)</span></div> </td> </tr> </table></div> <div class="Normal"><span style="" font-size:="" font-weight:="" bold="">When he replaced Sachin Tendulkar as the skipper after the disastrous tour to Australia in 1999-2000 Sourav Ganguly was seen as something of an interloper, an intruder if you will, who would hold the captaincy of Team India till the Master Blaster would again come into his own and take back, what most would have considered, his rightful inheritance.</span><br /><br /><span style="" font-size:="" font-weight:="" bold="">Well, the march of years has gone by and today, there is no alternative power centre to the man the English commentator Geoffrey Boycott fondly refers to as the Prince of Calcutta. Indeed, it has not been easy for Sourav as many times his batting prowess has deserted him and he retained his place in the side by the sheer hard work that he put into his captaincy, and the amazing results that it generated. </span><br /><br /><span style="" font-size:="" font-weight:="" bold="">Indeed, the result of winning two Test matches against the touring Australians in 2000 at home and thereby the series, had kept him in his seat, otherwise the long knives had already been unsheathed for his dethroning.</span><br /><br /><span style="" font-size:="" font-weight:="" bold="">He has a knack of grooming and encouraging raw talent and helping young players to establish themselves on a sound footing in the Test team. He was instrumental in getting Harbhajan Singh to bowl superbly during the Aussie tour to India. So much so, that the men from Down Under had no idea what he was throwing at them. And this was on the back of Bhajji being questioned officially for a wayward action, for which he had to go in for a correction </span><span style="" font-size:="" font-weight:="" bold="" font-style:="" italic="">a la</span><span style="" font-size:="" font-weight:="" bold=""> Muralitharan. </span><br /><br /><span style="" font-size:="" font-weight:="" bold="">He has given bowlers like Zaheer Khan and Ashish Nehra freedom to explore possibilities, he has brought confidence to youngsters like Mohammad Kaif and he has wrought enough credibility in the whole team to generate self-confidence. The examples of new kids on the block like Yuvraj Singh, little Parthiv Patel, Irfan Khan, Virender Sehwag are examples in how to handle competition - grab it by the throat and bury it in the ground. He has taught them this.</span><br /><br /><br /></div> </div><div class="section2"><div class="Normal"><br />Sachin Tendulkar himself would admit that Sourav has done a great job in leading the Indian cricket team from the front. He has virtually transformed a team of ''gentlemanly losers'' into tigers who have not taken a backward step since he has been skipper. Other teams, including the top rated ones like Australia and South Africa will vouch for the fact that India are no longer pushovers, they don''t scare and they spew as much venom as is thrown at them. <br /><br />It has also dawned on Sachin that he can no longer aspire to lead the team as long as Sourav is performing his wonders. And, having resigned himself to this fact, he has devoted more of his attention to his batting. <br /><br />Sourav himself seeks challenges - the harder and tougher they are the better. He glides gently into the task, takes his place and lets loose his dogs of war. He has taken out Australia on more than one occasion, except, infamously, during the World Cup 2003. He has for all intents and purposes served notice upon these top teams that their sovereignty over the sport is no longer current. They have a challenger to the title.<br /><br />Ganguly reached this position on the back of his awesome leadership skills that delivers the best of the potential from his teammates. He has Sachin performing not just with the bat, he has him taking wickets with the ball. In fact, Sachin has been a crucial wicket-taking cog in Sourav''s plans whenever Indian bowling spearheads hit a wall. <br /><br />So, dare we say it. The replacing of Sachin Tendulkar as the captain by Sourav Ganguly was the best thing to happen to India since, let''s say, young Sachin walked into the Indian Test team.</div> </div>