Cricket – Here I come!

It was a lifetime dream come true for little Sourav. He could see none other than the legendary Vivian Richards before him, walking past him with a majestic. Some yards away, it was the little master Gavaskar, facing ‘Paaji’ Kapil running to him like an express train.

Little Sourav was awestruck. He had taken so much risk by lying to his parents for this moment...Suddenly a cold wave ran through his veins, freezing him to the ground. He saw his father Chandi Ganguly walking towards him. He knew, he was caught ...................

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On Sourav’s 14th Birthday, his uncle gifted him a cricket bat. The 14 year old, held the bat and felt a strange sense of power and pride. It was a SG Cricket Bat, used by many legends of his time.

Though Sourav still considered football as his passion number# 1, he was slowly but steadily moving towards cricket. He was already playing for his school cricket team. Less than a year later, he was selected for the Under-15 Bengal Cricket team.

It was 1987. West Indies was touring India. After India’s historic win at the ’86 world cup, the West Indians had a score to settle. Eden Gardens was hosting one of the test matches. A day before the test match, cricketers of both teams were practicing at the nets in Eden Gardens.

It was a great opportunity for Sourav to watch his revered icons in flesh and blood. Snehasis was going to Eden. Sourav wanted to go with him. But the problem was that he had school the next day. He knew he would never get the permission from his parents to miss the classes. What would he do? After thinking hard, he got an idea. But it would be immoral and too risky as well. Finally the temptation to go to Eden got the better of him. He went to his parents and convinced them that the school had declared a holiday, the next day. Unsuspecting his parents happily allowed him to go to see the team practice with his elder brother.

But, luck was not with his side. No sooner had he gone to Edens the next morning, his classmate came to house to call him for school. Everyone was shell shocked. They could just not believe that Sourav had lied to them all. Chandi Ganguly asked everyone to take the incident lightly. He asked Sourav’s mother, to pack his school bag and uniform, and headed for Eden gardens.

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Chandi Ganguly did not scold, nor uttered a single word to the already scared and ashamed Sourav. He asked him to wear his school uniform, and straight away headed for school. While all the while Sourav was repenting for his act, his father knew that young Sourav had started developing an irresistible passion for the game!

Source: Inspired by the Book, “Saurav” by Shantipriya Bandopadhay

The Great Match!

Don Bosco Lilua and St.Xavier’s Kolkata, were the two cut throat competitors in the annual school football match. It was like Brazil playing Arzentina in the World Cup Final, where enthusiasm and emotions ran very high, in an environment which became most electrifying. But, it was mostly Don Bosco Lilua who lifted the trophy. And beating Don Bosco was always like a much cherished dream for the Xaverians.

Saurav was in the St.Xavier’s team as a striker. He knew that Don Bosco was a better team, but just could not accept the fact that his own team members were mentally prepared for a defeat already. He went up to Snehasis and asked him:

“Dadabhai, why are we so much afraid of Don Bosco?”
“It happens when you get defeated continuously,” Snehasis replied.
“But why should we get defeated again and again. Why can’t we fight back? Underdogs do win, don’t they? Look at Cameroon. If they could stop Argentina, why can’t we stop Don Bosco?”
“What will you do?” Snehasis asked.
“All I can do, Dadabhai is to score goal, and I will only try my best to do that. I won’t ever accept defeat before the last whistle is blown.”
Marvelled at his bro’s attitude, Snehasis caringly remarked, “But, remember you will alone have to fight in the beginning.”
“I will, and I will also make others play, just like Maradona or Majid does”.

Saurav’s inspiration was Maradona and Majid Bascar of the East Bengal Club team. He also donned a No.10 Jersey like them.

The D-day had come. The match between Xaviers and Don Bosco had started. Surprisingly Xavier’s managed to score the first goal and managed to keep it 1-0 for the first half of the match.

No sooner, had the 2nd half started Xavier’s faced a series of attack from the Don Bosco strikers. They tried their best to defend, but attacks were incessant and a leveller seemed impending. Finally at the 65th Minute of play, Don Bosco scored a leveller. It was 1-1 for the two teams now. This triggered an even fiercer attack from Don Bosco, trying to take the lead. Xaverians managed to hold on like this till the 90th minute, and the match went into extra time. Both teams were exhausted but were ready to take on each other for the final few minutes.

Saurav, was playing in the Centre Field, when suddenly somebody passed the ball to him. In a flash he started rushing to Don Bosco Goal with the ball, dodging mid fielders and defenders one after another. He came near the goal post, lobbed the ball with his left feet and hit a hard volley with his right.... The goalie missed it completely and Goaallllllllllllllll !!!!!!

Xavier’s won the match, 2-1.

The inborn ‘never say die attitude’ in Sourav was metamorphosed into a strong self belief, by successes like these, in his childhood. Much later in his career, he was able to infuse this self belief into an ailing Indian Team, in the post Azhar, bribe scam hit era; and transform them into a bunch of fighters who were ready to take on Giants on their own home turf.

....... to be contd.

Source: Inspired by the Book, “Saurav” by Shantipriya Bandopadhay

The Way to Lords - The making of Saurav Ganguly

Lordie, Dada, Prince of Kolkata ... no matter whatever you call him, Saurav Ganguly is best described as the Phoenix, the Fighter who has risen to glory from impending oblivion, again and again!

But not many are aware of the making of this great fighter of Indian Cricket...the stories of his early years! Henceforth I shall dedicate much of this Blog space in the honour of Dada, and retrace his path from childhood to his debut at Lords.

The Passion for Football

Cricket has been in the blood of the Gangulys. Chandi Ganguly, father of Saurav was a 1st class cricketer himself. Later on, he became a Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) official, along with managing the family business. Chandi Ganguly always dreamt that his two sons, Snehasis and Saurav will play for India, like Surinder and Mahinder Amarnath. Although Snehasis was dedicatedly playing cricket for school and club team, to fullfill his father’s dream, young Saurav, was living in the world of Football.

During this time his uncle got him a pair of Reebok shoes from Singapur. This was the most precious possession that little Saurav had and would spent hours donning them before the mirror, and gloat in glory.

Saurav loved to play football more than anything else. He was a regular player in St.Xavier’s School football team. An amusing incident happened. Saurav’s parents decided to have a Bengali tutor for him. His tutor would come in the evening, for the classes soon after Saurav returned from school. Young Saurav was very upset at this. Evening was the time for him to kick the football with his para (neighbourhood) friends, and no way was he going to study Bengali sacrificing football. But he was too scared to revolt, before his parents as well. After some hard thinking he came up with a strategy.

He went up to his tutor, and told:

“Sir, can I ask you something?”

“Yes, go on.”

“You seem too tired after your day’s work. Even I come exhausted from school. Why don’t both of us take some rest, before we commence with our studies,” Saurav suggested.

“Hmm, that’s not a bad idea. Its true we both get very tired, after day’s work”, his teacher observed thoughtfully.

“That’s great Sir. You rest at my room, while i shall go upstairs and take a nap. Then we can start afresh”

Gangulys were a joint family with a palace like mansion. So it was not possible for the family members to take much notice if someone quietly sneaks out of the house. Thus every evening Saurav would hit the football ground, while his parents thought that he was studying in his room.

... to be contd.

My new resolution - Sick with KKR

Another predictable but most disheartening loss for Kolkata Knight Riders against the Mumbai Indians. It seems Mc Cullum was injured... he didn't keep wickets and came to Bat at No.6. Bravo Skipper! He surely belong to those species of leaders who lead from the back! Full Score to the Phoren Babas (Mathew Mott & Buchanon) as well for accurately screwing up in every match.

Buchanon was caught on camera signaling to Mc Cullum (perhaps), that it was the END, soon after Hodge's departure. And it is truely the end of Knight Riders IPL Dream! The only solace for 'King Khan' is that he now would not have to spend money in buying the return tickets to South Africa.

Fake IPL Player it seems, is also runing out of newer ideas and sensations. He is mostly likely to fade out with the KKR as well.

But, the show must go on. And I have decided to dedicate most of this blog space for our only hero in KKR team - Dada!

More Nicknames Decoded - from the last blog of Fake IPL Player

One more Blog from the Fake IPL Player, and few more trademark names! I have decoded them, and are as follows:

• Boy George: Joy Bhattacharya, for sure. He is the ‘Team Director’ of the KKR, responsible for team management. All he manages therefore is to throw some management jargons from time to time, and do some blogging for KKR website.
  B.t.w, guess what’s the academic qualification of Joy Bhattacharya? He is a Maths graduate, and has done his Masters in Computer Application from Jadavpur University.
  According to USA based IT expert Vivek Dwivedi, the language used in ‘fakeiplplayer’ blog and its style-sheet suggests that it’s not something done by a common cricketer. The Blogger has decent knowledge of information technology and that’s why he hasn’t used any gadget that can reveal his identity.If the Blogger truely is from the KKR team, then Joy Bhattacharya seems to be the most qualified of the lot!!! This is just a food for thought.
• Gilly Danda: Seems ‘Danda’ is derived from ‘Dinda’..which makes Ashoke Dinda as our Man .. err ..sorry..Knight, in question.
• Little Sister: What makes Fake IPL Player blogs so special is his ability to throw up little hints at ‘masala’ stuff from time to time. Sheikh (Shane Warne).. “settling for Little Sister. It's not known yet whether the issue has been nailed or not.” Haha… No doubt Little Sister is Shamita Shetty, sister of Shilpa Shetty alias Big Sister
• Mangal Pandey: LR Shukla is the only man left out. So its a choice by elimination and not selection. I am not sure what made Fake IPL Player name his that, apart from a few hints that he fancies himself as skipper for the next season!
• Style Bhai: This has to be Murali Kartick. The choice is for two reasons: (i)Style Bhai is a spinner, as evident from the Fake IPL Player’s blog (ii) He is a heck of a stylist, with ear studs et al.