A learning curve for Ganguly

By John Cheeran
Sourav Ganguly, the man who broke down at the news of his ouster from the Indian Test team, has spoken finally.
Ganguly had interesting things to say.
Ganguly said in Calcutta that he respected the selectors' decision. “Whatever has happened, I respect the selectors' decision and I am sure with my performance, I'll again get opportunity to play in the future. It is for my respect that it is important to respect Indian cricket.”
Did Ganguly have any other choice other than respect selectors decision?
Was Ganguly expecting that heckling and effigy burning in the streets of Calcutta will force Kiran More to reverse his decision?
Or was he expecting that Jagmohan Dalmiya will use his clout to get him play in Ahmedabad?It took Ganguly five days, till the eve of the Ahemdabad Test, to say that he accepts the inevitable.
By then, all hope had evaporated in Calcutta.
If Ganguly had said he respected selectors’ decision, as any player has to, in the immediate aftermath, he could have kept his dignity intact.
Now this retreat has been a forced one, devoid of any meaning.
Ganguly also appealed to his fans to desist from activities that disrupt normal life.
Again, did Ganguly have a choice?
It is a costly business to organize protest and I admit Ganguly has money. Still professional protestors are a demanding lot and even such a noble cause as the reinstatement of the last Bengali to play cricket for India has its limitations.
"Life needs to get back to normal and any bandh will jeopardise public life which is not right," Ganguly is reported to have said.
I read the Press Trust of India agency report with wonder, because it says “after Ganguly was sacked from the Indian team for the third Test against Sri Lanka, there has been an uproar in the entire country with former cricket players, politicians and film and television actors denouncing the national selectors' decision."
Entire country!
When did Calcutta become the entire country for India’s leading news agency?
Later, the report went on to say, “Kolkata and other parts of West Bengal have witnessed large-scale disruption of public life, with people squatting on railway tracks and putting up road blocks.”
Ah, now you know of the quality of journalism in Dateline Kolkata!