SAURAV Ganguly’s leadership skills have all too often been questioned by unthinking critics who really know nothing of the man or his development as a strong-minded captain. In recent times, it has been conveniently overlooked that his approach has been just as inspirational as that of Rahul Dravid’s performances with the bat in the remarkable drawn Test series against Australia. Similarly not considered anymore is the fact that no south Asian captain has commanded as much respect of his opponents as Ganguly has since the era of Arjuna Ranatunga who led Sri Lanka in the 1990s. Ranatunga, though, came from a tough political background and the chauvinism western captains found in him can be traced back to these origins. The chauvinism that earned him brickbats, which in a sense can be accepted as compliments of a backhanded nature. Former England captain Mike Atherton found the Colombo politician incorporating a sense of self-belief in his teammates, which belied the Lanka image of being the gentle, if occasionally mercurial, sort. Ranatunga was prepared to get into a verbal scrap if need be. He took advantage of playing condition interpretations to the limit and made it tough for umpires and match referees. A method of obfuscation and manipulation which comes so easily to politicians. Read differently, as Aussie leg-spinner Shane Warne does, Ranatunga is far from being a manipulator. Warne simply found Ranatunga an uncompromising toughie. A man who supported his players and would go to any distance for their cause, especially in alien conditions. Successive England captains Atherton, Alec Stewart and Nasser Hussain did not care for the Ranatunga Style but admit their grudging admiration. While Hussain was only a player when Ranatunga was captain, he did not appreciate the attitude of the plump Lankan getting up his nose so often. But in England (1998) though Ranatunga was patronising at times, unlike his disruptions in Australia the following summer, Ranatunga was willing to compromise as long as it did not harm his team or its image. He gave Sri Lanka a self-belief, which Australians Mark Taylor and Steve Waugh felt was steering his role as captain into the realms of carefully manoeuvred gamesmanship. Jog your memory back to the cases of Muttiah Muralitharan being called for chucking in Australia: It was Classic Ranatunga, in which he used the situation to draw the opposition and the officials into his lair. From then, there could be only one winner. In a sense, Ganguly has also become, in his own way, a large chunk off the Ranatunga slab of Fortress Sigiryia granite. It could be seen in the Test series against New Zealand in 2002-03 and it was visible during the 2003 World Cup. On this tour of Australia, he accepted the role of captaincy through accountability and has supported his team and got up the nose of the Australians. To good effect, evidently. Ganguly has achieved what no other Indian captain has: Success in foreign environment. It has put on show his strength of mind and with it a touch of romanticism, which sets him apart from others. India should have levelled the Test series in the West Indies in 2002, and won in England several months later. This was after winning the NatWest Trophy in a high-scoring final. Yet, the sight of him whipping off his shirt on the Lord’s balcony at the moment of the NatWest triumph was the sort of passionate response of a man who believes not just in his team but also India’s cause. And if he puts a few Aussie noses out of joint.well, so be it. He has the strength of character to match the Aussies, and he does it with a brand of panache Rantunga did not have.
