He just didn't seem to belong.
If he would have been discarded for good, we wouldn't even have noticed it. But he persisted and 19 years later playing in his 4th IPL season he played an innings for Pune Warriors that had all the buzz of a debut.
That is Saurav Ganguly for you....
Saurav Ganguly isn't someone you like instinctively. In fact there is something about him on the cricket field that makes you feel awkward. Its kind of like watching Abhishek Bacchan dance. When Rahul Dravid said that Saurav Ganguly is the God of the off-side, I think it was only in contrast to his on-side play, which is unfinished, unconvincing and tends to flow in some sort of slow motion gone wrong.
Saurav Ganguly captained Sachin Tendulkar's and Anil Kumble's team for India and he has always had an eye for talent and a knack of leading players. A quality neither Sachin Tendulkar nor Anil Kumble were able to demonstrate. A role neither was inclined to play.
Between Sachin and Kumble we were trying to build a team of Noel Davids, Nilesh Kulkarnis and Wasim Jaffers. With Saurav Ganguly we found and backed Yuvraj Singh, Zaheer Khan, Harbhajan Singh and Virendra Sehwag.
Its not like Saurav Ganguly has had to make a lot of comebacks, its just that each of his comebacks seemed highly unlikely.
Written off in 1992, he came back with a century on debut in 1996.
Betrayed in 2005 he came back a year later with solid performances in South Africa; of all the places; and helped India win a Test Match there.
Unsold in 2011 at the IPL Auction, he has come back, very much against against market and economic indicators to....
hmmm....
not sure for what. Perhaps to make sure the Warriors are eliminated riding on horses and swinging their swords on the off side with flair and style.
Other unsolicited, half baked opinions on unsuspecting cricketers...
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