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Ganguly's tall claim!

henochschon

Cricket Spectator
READ THIS !!

India have a great, great future: Ganguly

LONDON: Indian skipper Sourav Ganguly has hit back at critics who say he sometimes lets the game drift, saying the team's performance at Headingley in third Test against England and a string of earlier victories is "ample proof of a successful captaincy." Ganguly was reacting to 'Tiger' Pataudi's observation in India Abroad that he (Ganguly) "sometimes lets the game drift away from him."

" In an interview here, Ganguly said he had not been hurt by previous criticism of his leadership because his record spoke for itself. "I think Indian cricket has a great, great future. Our performance over the last one-and-a-half years has shown it has a great, great future. We have won overseas more than any other team has won.

"We won five Tests abroad during the last one-and-a-half years, which is the maximum by any captain. So that shows we've played really well. We have won 11 of our last 23 Tests overall in this one year. "It's the highest success rate for any team under any captain. So the team looks to have a good future. We did fantastically in the one-days. We have not lost a one-day series in the whole year.

"We won the one-day series in the West Indies, we won the one-day series here, obviously we beat Zimbabwe at home. So things are going well. Overall we've played well in England. Except for the Lords Test we played extremely well in the series, the one-days as well the Test at Nottingham (Trent Bridge) and the Test at Headingley.

"I think our performance results from the consistency of playing good cricket."





[Edited on 9/2/02 by henochschon]
 

tenchi

Banned
A classic case of 'the ends justifying the means'?.

As someone who is fortunate enough to be able to watch an awful lot of cricket, I feel confident in saying that both gentlemen are correct (and I am not generally conciliatory in nature).

Many times in the West Indies, Mr Ganguly did not appear to be sufficiently proactive regarding bowling and field changes. I believe that this is the point which the Nawab of Pataudi is making.

Good, can do better.
 

Gotchya

State Vice-Captain
We won five Tests abroad during the last one-and-a-half years, which is the maximum by any captain. So that shows we've played really well.
Very optimistic,i wonder why he didn't mention that they lost 7 tests abroad in the last one and half year as well.....
11/23 is not very impressive is it(6 coming against Zim/WI/BD)? coming from a captain i just think that its about lifting the team morale and thats all i hope it is (they cant afford to over estimate themselves can they?).
 

full_length

U19 Vice-Captain
Obviously he was talking about the best run for an Indian team under any (Indian) captain.
In recent times, the period of home wins the likes of England, Sri Lanka etc. was the only comparable success period. He is correct about this team being the best in terms of overseas performances.

Rarely do i think this, but this is indeed a silly topic! You chaps have nothing better to do :p

We can ofcourse keep saying we lost two matches in WI, one in Zim two in Lanka but that ain't anything new is it :D What's new is that we actually won in SL, WI, Zim and now in England. IMO, even without winning a series, if India atleast manages to compete everywhere in the world it will be a significant improvement to the teams lead by Azhar, and by Sachin. This team has already shown the competitiveness, even panache when on top.. the real challenge is doing well for three or so years..

Since Saurav was purely talking about success rate, in numbers, it is quite unnecessary to get into the relative strengths of teams, but I would say that they have some distance to travel before they measure up to the team that won the World series (or whatever that was called) in '85. I think they beat all major teams then very comfortably, and only New Zealand scored over 200 against that INdian team (206). This one is not there yet, nor are they anywhere close to the 1971 team, but they still have a better record than any of those teams in terms of no. of overseas wins in two years, and also superior in terms of win percentage to any other Indian team (stats anyone?). This is what Saurav was talking about...in english if i may add.
hmm i feel like saying "full stop" but that's up to you :D
 

Anil

Hall of Fame Member
If he is comparing himself and his team to other Indian captains and their teams, what he is saying makes some sense. The way he is quoted, it seems as though he is comparing all the test teams and their captains and that would make his claim preposterous.

[Edited on 9/4/02 by anilramavarma]
 

R_Powell_fan

U19 Captain
I know anil, but you see it is just that I couldn't resist quoting him like that to just lighten up things around.
 

R_Powell_fan

U19 Captain
I know anil, but you see it is just that I couldn't resist quoting him like that to just lighten up things around. I agree it was a mistake to do so .. :D

[Edited on 9/3/02 by R_Powell_fan]
 

scorpio

U19 Cricketer
Gotchya and Powell...
it was article written for a indian website..and he is comparing himselfto other indian captains.

Now read it again..it might make sense...
 

luckyeddie

Cricket Web Staff Member
Thanks, I will re-read it.

Nope.

Am I right in supposing that the original article is not reproduced in its entirity here?

I refer to the thread heading : "Ganguly's tall claim". It strikes me that the member who posted the article was equally as confused as the rest of us.

I think the phrase "... for any team under any captain" is the one which causes me the biggest problem.

If he were comparing himself and his record to previous Indian captains, I cannot see why he would have used the words "for any team".
 

Gotchya

State Vice-Captain
I think the phrase "... for any team under any captain" is the one which causes me the biggest problem.

Thats waht ticked me off, but i agree that the 'excerpts' may have been puto ut of context. We're wasting our time.....
 

scorpio

U19 Cricketer
here is the whole article..it will make a hell a lot more sense i guess


Indian cricket has a great, great future: Sourav:

India skipper Sourav Ganguly has hit back at critics who say he sometimes lets the game drift, saying the team's performance at Headingley and a string of earlier victories is ample proof of a successful captaincy.

Ganguly was reacting to 'Tiger' Pataudi's observation in the August 16 issue of India Abroad, the newspaper owned by rediff, that he (Ganguly) "sometimes lets the game drift away from him."

Flushed with India's success in the Headingley Test, Ganguly hit back, saying, "It is easy to say from the outside that I sometimes let the game drift away from us. Things work sometimes and sometimes they don't work. Everything looks good when it works, when you pick wickets, when you change the bowler. When they come and pick wickets it looks good,.

"At the same time when it doesn't work it looks as though the game is drifting. It is not that easy as it looks from the outside."

In an exclusive interview he said he has not been hurt by previous criticism of his leadership because his record speaks for itself.

"I think Indian cricket has a great, great future," he said. "Our performance over the last one-and-a-half years has shown it has a great, great future. We have won overseas more than any other team has won.

"We won five Tests abroad in the last one-and-a-half years, which is the maximum by any captain. So that shows we have obviously played really well. We have won 11 of our last 23 Test matches overall in this one year.

"It's the highest success rate for any team under any captain. So the team looks to have a good future.

"We did fantastically in the one days. We have not lost a one day series in the whole year.

"We won the one day series in the West Indies, we won the one day series here, obviously we beat Zimbabwe at home. So things are going well.

"Overall we have played well in England. Except for the Lords Test we played extremely well in the series, the one days as well, the Test at Nottingham (Trent Bridge) and the Test at Headingley.

"I think our performance results from the consistency overall of playing good cricket."

Asked whose performance at Headingley he would personally single out for special praise, Ganguly replied unhesitatingly, "I think Rahul Dravid played the best, but I thought everybody contributed, whether with the ball, bat or in the field. I thought we played well together."

He described England as a good side and continues, "We have to keep the intensity going of what we did in the last Test at Headingley. They bat well, they have good bowlers to exploit English conditions."

"They're equipped in both batting and bowling. (Andy) Caddick's a good bowler, (Matthew) Hoggard's a good bowler. We played them well in Headingley, which I think is the key.

"Our strength is not just our batsmen, we picked 20 wickets at Headingley to win the Test, so it is not just batting."

Ganguly says he does not want to be drawn into commenting on what Nasser Hussein said immediately after Headingley on how the psychological pressure would now be on India to perform in the fourth and final Test at the Oval, which begins Thursday, September 5.

"I don't really want to speculate on what Nasser said about the pressure being on us, or on what is happening in the England camp," Ganguly responds. "We just need to be worried about our own cricket and play to the best of our own potential.

"In this game at this level there is pressure on both sides. We want to win at home and we want to win overseas."

He has hugely enjoyed the tour of England so far. A former overseas professional for Lancashire, he says off-spinner Harbhajan Singh has also signed up for the same county next season.

"I have played for Lancashire, I was overseas professional in 2000. Farokh (Engineer) and myself have played for Lancashire, Harbhajan is playing next year. He's signed up with them.

"I love England, the facilities, the surroundings, I think for me it's the best place to tour because you don't have to be on flights every day as it is in other parts of the world.

"You're on a coach and you're travelling to all counties, the grounds are amazing, the facilities the counties provide to their players are fantastic. They play quite a lot of cricket and they're well paid, so it is all in the right direction."

Ganguly also praised India's up and coming young cricketers like teenage wicket-keeper Parthiv Patel who was injured on the knee at Headingley by a delivery from Ajit Agarkar.

Describing Patel as a "good cricketer," Ganguly adds, "But he's young and has got a long way to go. He's got to work hard at his game and at this level you'll be tested very soon. People will work on your game and you've got to keep working on it.

"It is not just how you start, it is how you carry on and how you finish. It's a long process.You've got to be fighting and improving your game very day."
 

luckyeddie

Cricket Web Staff Member
99% of which made great sense.

The 'dodgy' phrase still remains, but as someone who has given press interviews myself (and also been on the other side of the microphone), I can well understand how words become transcribed.

Let's not split hairs over this one - it may well be a misrepresentation, misinterpretation, typo - call it what you will - I think the guy's done well in my book.
 

scorpio

U19 Cricketer
Yeah..on reading it again..it does look that he "may" have been referring to all teams..

The only explantion i can think of is ...he is addressing it to the local audience which seems to lap it up when they either hype india to skies or trash it to the level of bangladesh..
 

luckyeddie

Cricket Web Staff Member
It's called 'working the crowd' - and nowadays with cricket having such a high profile, it's no bad thing.
 

scorpio

U19 Cricketer
LE: IMO it is very bad. Everyone knows India are still a mediocre test team. But the moment one win happens everything is buried coz u have praise from all quarters blinding most ppl.

For example after the third test we have gone with the same team...which is a dumb thing as i said before the test. Agarkar sucked..he should have been dropped..but after all this praise the team management wont do it coz if they lose the game they media will come down like a ton of bricks.

Inability to be honest after victories is not gonna help india or for that matter any team go anywhere.
 

luckyeddie

Cricket Web Staff Member
Fair comment, Scorpio.

Maybe Sourav's getting his armour on early, anticipating a backlash if things don't go to plan?

Honestly, LE Petulengro hasn't done a horoscope for him saying 'beware the Ides of March'. :D
 

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