The Legend, Sourav Chandidas Ganguly whom we more popularly refer to as 'Dada' turns 49 today.
The Bouncer Avenue Team wishes Sourav Ganguly a Very Happy Birthday and prays for his long and prosperous life.
The aggressive opener, Virender Sehwag once said- "a biopic on Sachin would show the rise of Sachin, a biopic on Dhoni would show the rise of Mahi but if a biopic was made on Dada then we'll know about the 'Rise of India' ".
On this auspicious day, we have decided to discuss Sehwag's so called 'Rise of India' and the evolution of Cricket from the 90s era to what it is in the modern day.
If you want to enquire regarding how Indian Cricket has progressed, better get your insights from a 90s fan. He has literally seen all the phases of Indian Cricket right from utter humiliation to sheer domination.
As a 90s kid, the first thing that I got to know was that till the time Sachin was at the crease, millions of Indian watching had sort of some hopes. Once he used to be dismissed people didn't even bother to watch the rest of the game.
We have seen Indian Cricket go through various ups and downs and we all know how dependent Indian Cricket was on Sachin Tendulkar for which 1996 World Cup was a prime example. He carried the burden of the whole nation on his shoulders but when he was dismissed in the semis after playing a decent knock yet again, the other batsmen fell like a house of cards who were sort of waiting for others to just touch them. Indian fans burnt the posters, threw bottles and ultimately the match was discontinued. We saw the rage of Indian fans and the limit to which it can go.
The Indian fans are in no way less than a double edged sword. They can take you on their shoulders and then at the very next minute they can drop you from the top if you do not fulfill their expectations.
The year 1998 was the best as an Indian Cricket fan but the Indian Team followed it up by a dismal show in the 1999 World Cup. It was still bearable to an extent but what hit Indian Cricket the worst was the match fixing saga which took Indian Cricket by storm.
The colossal of Indian Cricket, Mohammad Azharuddin was one of the 5 cricketers who were labelled with charges in the match fixing scandal. This was pretty hard to digest as Azharuddin was a fashion icon back then with his 'bade bhai' approach and the 'collar' which was always kept up by him. Tendulkar was asked to lead the team but that impacted his batting where he failed miserably down under and India lost the series 3-0 to Australia. Tendulkar stepped down and Indian Cricket was in tatters.
The decade changed, century changed and it was the new millennium and so were the fortunes of Indian Cricket. It needed someone to lift them up from the mess that it found themselves into. There came a man who took charge of the Indian Cricket Team and that was the renaissance of Indian Cricket. The 'Prince of Kolkata' took the reigns in his hands and changed the perception of how Indian Cricket was looked upon.
He created a team which had veterans who played alongside youngsters. There was a perfect blend of aggression and calmness to go with Ganguly's bold captaincy. The Indian side achieved a great deal under his captaincy. India reached the final of 2000 CT in Nairobi, Won 2002 CT and the Natwest Trophy in England in the same year and also reached the Final of the 2003 World Cup co-hosted by South Africa, Zimbabwe and Kenya. Those were the few great years one could see as an Indian fan.
Indian Cricket was hit by a storm once again when they appointed Greg Chappell as their coach. Ganguly and Greg never got along well and Chappell didn't want Ganguly in the side. There were rifts in the team just months before the mega event in the Caribbean which was not at all an ideal preparation going into the big event. The Indians lost to Bangladesh and were knocked out in the opening round of the World Cup itself.
T20 World Cup was introduced in 2007 and the Indians had nothing to lose. They sent in a team with all the youngsters to the World Cup in the rainbow nation led by Mahendra Singh Dhoni. This move took everyone by surprise. The Indian side ended up winning that World Cup. More than anything it was Dhoni's captaincy which impressed everyone. This was a sign of something big to come.
Indian Cricket reached an altogether new level when they announced franchise based T20 competition known as the IPL where you could see the best in the world coming together and have a blast.
India won a tri-series down under. MS Dhoni's leadership again impressed everyone and now we knew who was going to lead the nation in 2011 World Cup. India won that World Cup and 'The Renaissance' started by Sourav Ganguly got completed. Indians were at the summit of World Cricket then.
India got a new gem in Virat Kohli during the course of that World Cup. We all know what Virat was special and he was going to achieve much more in the coming years. Indian Cricket was in safe hands after Tendulkar's departure.
India won the CT in 2013, lost the Final of the 2014 T20 World Cup, didn't lose a single game in the 2015 WC before going down to the Aussies in the semis and lost another semis in 2016 T20 WC before losing the Final of 2017 WC.
Indian Cricket had found a face. Virat Kohli ruled the batting charts. Indians had the team that was going to be known as the World Beaters. Dhawan and Rohit would lay the foundation with Kohli to follow. It spelled doom for the opposition with the ever reliable MS Dhoni to follow. The team was ready for the 2019 World Cup.
Rohit Sharma dictated terms throughout the 2019 World Cup with 5 centuries and ender up as the highest run scorer of the tournament. Indians topped the group and faced a resurgent NZ in the semis which choked Indians out and the Indians fell very short of another final which nobody had seen coming.
Recently, Indians showed the world what they were made up of when they defeated Australia in Australia with a depleted squad and then trounced England in India with utmost ease.Finally, they went down to NZ in WTC Final but that doesn't take anything away from this unit. They have surely come of age and look destined to win many more titles in the future.
We have seen Indian Cricket get humiliated, fail, grow and then rule the World Cricket. Indian Cricket is going through its golden phase with Virat leading the side and it would be interesting to see what more he brings to the fore in the coming years but amidst everything we must not forget the contributions of Dada who ignited this fire in the soul of Indian Cricket.
