Dada To The Very End

 

Dada was envisioned as an art movement to reject every other art movement. It was meant to be anti-art -- challenging the established norms and rules by completely discarding them. It was a statement, a protest, a political act of defiance.

In the end, however, anti-art becomes nothing but another outdated artform. Another rung in the dialectical ladder of creation.

In this sense, Sourav Ganguly showed himself truly worthy of the Dada moniker. His career proved significant not for what he contributed, but for what he represented. And what he was supposed to represent was never exactly clear. Therein lies his genius.

Ganguly's greatest skills were always political. He knew how to appeal to a constituency; to create wedges among the base, and build his nest within them. He tricked his followers into believing the value of his myth even though, when you looked real close, you'd see there was little behind the image.

He defined himself by his "leadership" and by, essentially, sticking it to the Aussies. He took advantage of the common cricketing trope of judging a player's worth by how they perform against the best in their era, and by nothing else. And at that, he was successful. Few people knew how to get under the Australians' skin better than Ganguly. Again, that's a purely political victory. In the actual important matters, the day-to-day grudge work of scoring runs, building partnerships and winning matches, he was always absent, leaving it to the Dravid's, Laxman's, Sehwag's to do the dirty work.

His last moments in Test cricket were pure dada. You'd think getting out for a golden duck would prove an ignominious end to a career. Not for Ganguly. It will only mean that he will always get compared to that other player who also got out for a duck in his last innings. His greatness will be achieved by literal proximity, if nothing else.

An indication of who he truly was, in the things that matter (in the anti-dada, if you will) was also clear to see in the Nagpur test. When Matthew Hayden got run out trying to steal a single on the the second day, he was dismissed because he confused Murali Vijay for Ganguly at mid-on. The only reason Hayden even went for the run was because he thought Ganguly was the one doing the fielding.

No one will ever mentioned that in the history books. It gets in the way of the narrative, the hagiography of heroes. But those of us who are there at the time notice it. It's the kind of detail that makes the time we waste on the game valuable to us. It illuminates true value.

It's the difference between the legends and the myths.

Between the leaders and the monarchs.

Between the fountains and the urinals.

Comments

[Avik]

Hi Henry,

I'm a long time reader of your blog and this is my first comment I guess...

Well, opinions are personal. So I won't protest much against your assessment of Ganguly. There are people who thinks 'Dada' truly and deservedly one of the legends of Indian cricket, like me and there are people who think otherwise, like our Uncle JRod, who gave Dada a great name i.e. The Giant Alien Lizard or something. Way more sexy than something mundane like Dada or Prince of Calcutta etc etc. :) As I said, personal opinions...

Leadership is a subjective thing. He has his numbers with him but then again that doesn't say much. Or does it?

Batting in test... well, nothing great... 7K odd runs and some 15 centuries. One day is completely diff though. A much better record. One small fact. He got 31 MoM in his ODI career. Just after Sachin and Sanath. Significant contribution in the game as some would like to say, but again it's just a number. And ODI is not 'real cricket' as we all know. Especially after T20 has come...

Cheers...

[D.S. Henry]

You're right, Avik, there's no point questioning other people's opinions. I don't really question the fact that Ganguly will prove to be one of the most remembered Indian players of his era. The question is whether he really deserves all the accolades.

I won't deny his achievement in ODIs. There was definitely a period where he was one of the most productive and consistent one-day batsmen in the world, and he did win India many games almost singlehandedly.

His Test record, however, is another matter. And his "leadership" skills are debatable. His tactical acumen never struck me as very inspired (um, sending Australia to bat in the 2003 World Cup final?!), and he often seemed not to lead from the front as much as you'd expect. Sure, he was a good shit-stirrer, but was he the type to really get in the trenches and lead from the front?

There's also something a little unsettling about the fact that Ganguly is bowing out to fanfare and celebration, while Dravid will probably just get dropped awkwardly and unceremoniously in a couple of months. Maybe it's a reflection of their political skills.

(Thanks for reading, btw.)

[damiths]

as many feel, dada was someone you loved to hate.

you either liked him or hated him. i dint like him that much , but i think the early part of his career was when he was at his best. in the middle he lost a bit of that magic,

i remember his first test in eng. it was just sublime timing. never seen anything like it.

whatever way we look at it. he is a loss to india and cricket .

[Rob]

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