A captain tying himself in knots

sourav ganguly may not think much about changing the batting slot of his deputy rahul dravid like he changes his sweatshirts because he himself was made to go up and down the order. but his explanation for going in at number three may have left many in splits, though it may not have been very amusing to dravid who could have easily complained that he, too, was sick of not getting enough time to even pad up when ganguly bats up! how can a player be bored waiting for his turn to bat. i am sure ganguly had said that in jest or that’s his way of mocking at the media for being obsessed with his batting position. there’s no way out for a captain who is an escapist, both on and off the field. a pity he is tying himself in knots when he should be breaking the shackles with one of his characteristically belligerent knocks out in the middle. he is now being seen as a leader who leads from the front against teams like zimbabwe and on notoriously slow pitches like the one at kotla, on which he scored a hundred by going in at number three, and drops down the order when he sees even a bit of grass and a battery of four pace men, even if they are not the best in the business. the captain has every right to decide on the batting order, but did he ever think of other batsmen who may have their preferences and reasons for not changing the slot? just as ganguly thinks by batting at number three his luck might change, dravid can think the luck might desert him at number five. ganguly glibly told a news agency that he had spoken to dravid and he had agreed to the shift. he has gone to the extent of saying that ‘‘he was very nice and accommodating on the issue.’’ it will be interesting to know from dravid what exactly transpired. surely, he couldn’t have nodded his head to ganguly without a murmur. was it a request or was it asking dravid to volunteer for a suicide mission. where’s the question of his not agreeing when the captain tells him that he himself is going to bat one drop. the inescapable fact is wherever they bat, the two can’t avoid the new ball. if either of them goes in at number five the second new ball will be waiting to be taken and at number three he may have to go in within ten overs, looking at the way the opening batsmen are being shuffled. it’s hobson’s choice for ganguly and he may as well open the innings like a brave man. as for dravid, people will hopefully stop saying that he’s great but he’s a liability. some professional mourners have always targeted him in the team meetings with ulterior motives and he has suffered it all in silence. at last, he can breathe freely and look at his adversaries straight in the eye. look at dravid’s character. he spoke of venkata sai laxman and sarandeep singh in effusive terms, not trying to corner the spotlight himself. he didn’t dismiss the contributions of the two in cursory one-liners, he showered ample praise on them and unhesitatingly talked of laxman’s class as a batsman and the pleasure he got batting with him, thus showing his own class as a good human being. controversies seem to chase poor ganguly. if he has restored dravid to his rightful position, he was confronted with another piquant situation, of choosing between his most trusted colleague anil kumble and his favourite harbhajan singh for the port of spain test. one tends to agree with sunil gavaskar. how is it that only a bowler is not entitled to a bad game whereas a batsman can go on and on without ever trying to make an effort to get among the runs. the point missed here is that kumble’s experience and, most importantly, his high-arm bowling action is as good as having an intelligent third seamer. is bangar or ganguly that much more pacy and effective than kumble on a pitch which appears to aid the spinners more? now that bangar has been promoted as an opener, please persist with him for a couple of more tests unless he also goes on to prove that it’s one thing to open in domestic cricket and quite another in international cricket. you can’t be fooling around with openers, not allowing them to settle dow finally, just as well, ajay ratra has got into the test side at last. he will be under greater pressure than deep dasgupta to perform after what happened to the bengal-based delhi wicketkeeper. it’s nice of dasgupta to feel that there’s nothing wrong with his keeping. his confidence should help him overcome his shortcomings. our cricket is fast becoming a game of musical chairs with the selectors acting as djs.