And the multimillion-dollar question that has naturally emerged out like a sea dragon with Davy Jones tentacles is; why and how has Dada suddenly discovered that his erstwhile mentor, ex-BCCI president Jagmohan Dalmiya may have actually callously toyed with him like the proverbial pawn in his embittered battle for winning BCCI elections. I think the answer lies in Sourav's "tennis elbow" injury post the controversial Zimbabwe tour.
Let's do a quick flashback. If you remember, after that famous forced handshake and supposed truce between Greg Chappell and Sourav Ganguly at the Taj Mahal Hotel in Mumbai, it seemed that the entire sorry spectacle and mud slinging was a thing of an inglorious past. A chapter best buried and forgotten. Then curiously out of the blue, Sourav Ganguly, announced that his tennis elbow required an independent assessment at the hands of the BCCI appointed medical doctor, Dr Anant Joshi. That seemingly innocuous routine visit to Mumbai was to change his life forever.
It is well known that Greg Chappell had made a categorical allegation against Sourav Ganguly in Zimbabwe that he was faking an injury. But it had already been established that Sourav was, in fact, partially unfit with niggling injuries at that time by the team physiotherapist. So what prompted Sourav to make such brouhaha about his tennis elbow?
On whose advice did Ganguly decide to skip the vital Challenger Series? Did he do that just to prove to the world that Greg Chappell was indeed a liar who was falsely accusing him of playing truant? Or was he still seething with anger at his personal humiliation? Or did someone exploit his vulnerable and bruised ego at that time? Wasn't he susceptible to being thoroughly exploited? Was that the ruse to drop him from the team to play Sri Lanka, and also part of a larger conspiracy to get rid of him effortlessly in exchange for crucial election votes?
Once dropped, wasn't he stripped of both his captaincy and position in the team with methodical precision? Even after being given cosmetic opportunities thereafter where he actually delivered, he continued to be sidelined, why? And you do not need cricketing intelligence to know that the players who substituted him thereafter were not even worthy of being compared to him in terms of experience, skill, value or temperament.
Was it too late by the time Ganguly excavated the real reasons for his ignominious exit from the team he had led successfully for so many years, and just till a few weeks ago? Weren't we all confounded by the dramatic shifts in the former skipper's dwindling fortunes?
Only Sourav Ganguly knows the truth. Only he can tell it all. If there was indeed a " deal" between the two warring factions of the BCCI, neither side will own up; in fact, they will be brothers in crime. So what then?
Sourav has nothing to lose. This BCCI administration, given a choice will hang him from the tallest tree with the thinnest thread for any perceived indiscretion. And Dalmiya despite his relentless fight backs, at least temporarily, has been decisively checkmated.
Essentially, Sourav is alone, and stranded. His e-mail is a manifestation of the fact that he knows scheming power brokers have skillfully destroyed him. But who are they? Is it Dalmiya or is it someone else? Or are they all in it together?
In telling us all the truth behind the deadly manipulations and shady machinations of some of the slimy characters in India's past and current cricket administration, Sourav may be doing his entire cricketing fraternity a big favour, particularly innocent players for whom cricket is their lifeline, their entire being, their only professional hope.
It is time for Sourav to speak up. The moment is now. Not when he has retired into obscurity and written a 600-page autobiography.
In the murky chessboard of BCCI politics, Sourav can still turn from a hapless pawn into the Knight in shining armour. About the AuthorSanjay Jha Sanjay Jha is a hard-core “Congressi” largely on account of being enchanted by the incredible brilliance of the Gandhi-Nehru mystique, its array of in...Read Morefirst published:July 25, 2006, 10:26 ISTlast updated:July 25, 2006, 10:26 IST
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Ever since Sourav Ganguly's leaked e-mail about Jagmohan Dalmiya has found wide circulation thanks to the classical crack in the sewage linings, all hell has broken loose.
And the multimillion-dollar question that has naturally emerged out like a sea dragon with Davy Jones tentacles is; why and how has Dada suddenly discovered that his erstwhile mentor, ex-BCCI president Jagmohan Dalmiya may have actually callously toyed with him like the proverbial pawn in his embittered battle for winning BCCI elections. I think the answer lies in Sourav's "tennis elbow" injury post the controversial Zimbabwe tour.
Let's do a quick flashback. If you remember, after that famous forced handshake and supposed truce between Greg Chappell and Sourav Ganguly at the Taj Mahal Hotel in Mumbai, it seemed that the entire sorry spectacle and mud slinging was a thing of an inglorious past. A chapter best buried and forgotten. Then curiously out of the blue, Sourav Ganguly, announced that his tennis elbow required an independent assessment at the hands of the BCCI appointed medical doctor, Dr Anant Joshi. That seemingly innocuous routine visit to Mumbai was to change his life forever.
It is well known that Greg Chappell had made a categorical allegation against Sourav Ganguly in Zimbabwe that he was faking an injury. But it had already been established that Sourav was, in fact, partially unfit with niggling injuries at that time by the team physiotherapist. So what prompted Sourav to make such brouhaha about his tennis elbow?
On whose advice did Ganguly decide to skip the vital Challenger Series? Did he do that just to prove to the world that Greg Chappell was indeed a liar who was falsely accusing him of playing truant? Or was he still seething with anger at his personal humiliation? Or did someone exploit his vulnerable and bruised ego at that time? Wasn't he susceptible to being thoroughly exploited? Was that the ruse to drop him from the team to play Sri Lanka, and also part of a larger conspiracy to get rid of him effortlessly in exchange for crucial election votes?
Once dropped, wasn't he stripped of both his captaincy and position in the team with methodical precision? Even after being given cosmetic opportunities thereafter where he actually delivered, he continued to be sidelined, why? And you do not need cricketing intelligence to know that the players who substituted him thereafter were not even worthy of being compared to him in terms of experience, skill, value or temperament.
Was it too late by the time Ganguly excavated the real reasons for his ignominious exit from the team he had led successfully for so many years, and just till a few weeks ago? Weren't we all confounded by the dramatic shifts in the former skipper's dwindling fortunes?
Only Sourav Ganguly knows the truth. Only he can tell it all. If there was indeed a " deal" between the two warring factions of the BCCI, neither side will own up; in fact, they will be brothers in crime. So what then?
Sourav has nothing to lose. This BCCI administration, given a choice will hang him from the tallest tree with the thinnest thread for any perceived indiscretion. And Dalmiya despite his relentless fight backs, at least temporarily, has been decisively checkmated.
Essentially, Sourav is alone, and stranded. His e-mail is a manifestation of the fact that he knows scheming power brokers have skillfully destroyed him. But who are they? Is it Dalmiya or is it someone else? Or are they all in it together?
In telling us all the truth behind the deadly manipulations and shady machinations of some of the slimy characters in India's past and current cricket administration, Sourav may be doing his entire cricketing fraternity a big favour, particularly innocent players for whom cricket is their lifeline, their entire being, their only professional hope.
It is time for Sourav to speak up. The moment is now. Not when he has retired into obscurity and written a 600-page autobiography.
In the murky chessboard of BCCI politics, Sourav can still turn from a hapless pawn into the Knight in shining armour.
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