A Padma Sri for Ganguly

By John Cheeran
I have a request to make to Sharad Pawar, the BCCI President and Union Minister for Agriculture. Fix up a Padma Sri for Sourav Ganguly and as a barter arrangement, make the Maharaj announce his retirement from all forms of cricket. Save Indian cricket.
Save us.
Sourav Ganguly, after all, is turning out to be a man beyond any help.
Five runs! Five runs from a man whom the Calcutta mobsters wanted to resuscitate so desperately so that they dared to disgrace Indian cricket.
Though Greg Chappell and Rahul Dravid, in a thoroughly discredited move, brought back Ganguly to the dressing room Indian cricket did not deserve such pathetic figures in the middle.
Now that he got to tell the world what a great batsman he is, Ganguly not only discredited himself but wrecked another’s innings too.
Ganguly’s selfish nature and cowardice were there at Chepauk in the Indian first innings when he refused to respond to a call for a single from a well set VVS Laxman, that led to the batsman’s downfall. What does Ganguly think of himself?
According to coach Chappell, till the other day, Ganguly was keeping Laxman out of the team for reasons known to him.
On the eve of the Chennai Test, Maharaj had said that he would play this Test as if he were making his debut. What a grand statement to make! And we all saw his comeback innings.
If Ganguly had cared to watch after his dismissal, he would have got a free lesson as debutant Mahendra Singh Dhoni went about his first Test innings.
What Ganguly could not do, MS Dhoni did.
Bring in the youth Dravid. Bring on Yuvraj Singh and Mohammad Kaif.
As Lord Tennyson wrote, ring out the old, ring in the new! Ring out the false, ring in the true.
As December walks past us there cannot be a better time to bring in the new.