Sourav,Go like a champion,the way you played..

It was yet another day when i woke up and started doing my routine works and heard the news of Sourav Ganguly being dropped from the squad of Irani Trophy and the news was not a suprise as it had been only a question of when rather than why.Looking back the memory lane it had been a tremendous journey with him taking Indian cricket along numerous famous victories and incidents.Some of the most remarkable deeds of him that comes to my mind ......

*The aura he brought into the team and the courage with which he took the captaincy when the future of the indian team was at stake after azharudhin's match fixing episode and from that point becoming the most suceesful test captain of the country.

*The famous chase in Dhaka against Pakistan which came to be known as the Kanetkar match after his four that sealed victory for india in tha last over...that was the begiinning of the Sourav era

*That remarkable 183 against Srilanka in the 99 world cup in a do-or-die match producing the first ever 300 run partnership in ODI history..Oh the roars on that afternoon still echoes somewhere

*The Lords episode where he removed his shirt and waived it in style paying back what Flintoff did to us in the Natwest final victory thanks to the gem of a partnership between Yuvraj-Kaif.

*The comeback after him being dropped from the squad after the chappel controversy proving thousands of critics wrong(not me,of course)..

Every innings he played were marked by his trademark shots of the cut,the big hit over mid on,the lofted cover drive which he hits coming down the track..He was a treat to watch at the top of his game.Now the time has come to bed good bye to one of the greatest cricketers the game has ever seen.Sourav,believe me the bottom of your heart what is good for Indian cricket,who other than you knows better..may be it is the time for you move gracefully like the way you played....

Some records that speaks for Sourav's greatness Courtesy:Wikipedia

Tests

Captained India in a record 49 Test matches[58]
Led India to a record 21 Test wins[59]
His test average has never been less than 40.[60]

ODIs

Hold the record of most 200+ ODI partnerships (6 times) along with Sachin Tendulkar and Ricky Ponting.
Holds the record, shared with Sachin Tendulkar, for most 1st wicket ODI partnerships of 175+ runs (7 times).
Holds the record, shared with Mahendra Singh Dhoni, for the second highest score by an Indian cricketer in an ODI — 183, against Sri Lanka in 1999.
Held the record, shared with Sachin Tendulkar, for the highest first wicket partnership for India in an ODI match, 258, against Kenya in 2001. This record was bettered by Sri Lankan opening pair of Jayasuriya and Tharanga in 2006 at Headingley.
Was involved in the first 300 run ODI partnership with Rahul Dravid.
Sixth on the all time list with 31 man of the match awards.
He is also the only player to win 4 consecutive man of the match awards in ODIs.
India's most successful ODI captain.
First Indian to score an ODI century against Australia in Australia.
Highest ODI runs scorer in the world (in a calendar year) in 1997,1999,2000.
Third in the list of hitting maximum number of sixes in ODIs.
Second in the list of highest number of centuries in a single calendar year ever. 7 centuries in 2000.

Vintage Federer becomes Alien Again

It was as if Roger Federer sprinting and Andy Murray crawling in a 100 meter race.For that brief period in the first set ,he looked the man we knew about,the Federer we had heard of as a man from another planet.The impecccable forehand ,the ground coverage,the surgical precision in the mixing of defence and offence,the unplayable return of second serve,the dunk that reminded of elusive pete....Oh it looked as if Ernest Hemingway writing his old man and the sea,an artist finishing his masterpiece.This US open is special in every sense for the champion as he competed not only with other players but also his self doubts,the criticisms,the questions on the end of his supremacy......
Nadal on the other night looked far lesser than his greatness against a resurgent Andy Murray,who by his armour of ruthless defence and baseline play made the best player of the year look pretty ordinary.It is quite unbeleivable how Federer managed to do the same to Murray himself.Federer came with a purpose to demonstrate the world he is still in that untouchable zone...
And here he is...Just four months away from attaining that greatest of all records ,that magical number fourteen at Melbourne...

Is Dhoni ready to be at the helm

One bad series for the super stars and there are talks of giving the test captaincy for the wonder kid.How cruel are we to forget the entertainment and memories that these giants have given us for the last decade or so.Whenever we win,the media yells 'The Fab Four','The Holy Trinity',' Captain Jumbo' and the fantacy goes on... And when they start losing a match or two ,we suddenly feel the lack of youth in the team and ask for the axe of these great legends..It is true that these people have past their prime and and it is also true that a Tendulkar at 50% is far better than a yuvraj at 110% in test matches..The temperament of a Dravid or a Laxman can bat the overs the entire ODI team can face...

Statiscally speaking ,it is not Sachin,Dravid,laxman ,not even Sourav who should be dropped but our very own Dhoni who averages 24 in his last 10 innigns ,which includes four innings at home and he has not even faced the Mendis jinx..Taking nothing away from his leadership qualities and his peseverene and skill to become the best batsman in the world (I show the greatest respect and salute Dhoni,the ODI batsman and skipper).It is a very bitter truth that Dhoni has not yet established himself as a test batsman and he should concentrate on cementing his place in the side and then think about taking the team farward(To his credit,he has not told anytime he is interested in it)...See for yourself the scores of the last ten innings of our fab four

sachin 14, 6, 5, 31, 27, 12, 0, 153, 13, 71 Ave: 33.2
sourav 35, 18, 16, 0, 23, 4, 13*, 87, 0, 87 Ave: 31.4
Rahul 10, 68, 44, 2, 14, 10, 18*, 29, 3, 17 Ave:23.8
laxman 25, 61*, 13, 39, 21, 56, 50, 35, 3, 39 Ave:34.2
dhoni 32, 52, 14, 16, 20, 16, 19, 38, 2, 35 Ave:24.4


Stop the non-sense of dropping the seniors as a whole,it is now time to move farward as Indian cricket is in the process of a generation change.Groom the youngsters ,break the fab four and give an extended run to one of the promising ODI players and results will come under the guidance of the seniors.These five pillars that have carried the Indian cricket for the last fifteen years have to be replaced but not to be demolished as they deserve a gracious exit.It is pay back time for us.Let us give them a farewell that can better the one ,SCG gave to Steve Waugh 4 years ago...