[sanket.no.1]

Often, I have read in various forums the mention of "fanatic supporters of Ganguly" and a reference to their state of origin, Bengal. I take the liberty of precisely quoting someone "I am concerned about how healthy is the fanatical support base of him is, for Indian cricket. Selectors and administrators, should be able to freely discharge there duties, without fear of political interference and intimidation". All these words came out in response to a comment in a Bengali daily by Mr Gopal Bose, referred to without any respect as, "a retired 1st Class cricketer from Bengal". The quotation in question (as translated) is as follows: "10 deers, arrayed behind a tiger, can be transformed into tigers"

Whenever I read the posts like these, it seems to me that any non-Indian reading the same post may feel that the fans of Ganguly are undermining the vary health of Indian Cricket for their support of a cricketer of no calibre. It also seems to me by reading these posts that the "retired 1st Class cricketer from Bengal" is not qualified enough to make any such comments. Side-tracking the discussion on Ganguly’s calibre, let me dig deep into the cricket scene in Bengal and find out what these "retired 1st Class cricketer”s “from Bengal" are.

Have any of these so-called pundits ever looked into the cricket world of Bengal? Do they know a story of neglect and disrespect from 1940s? Do they know of a bowler called Shute Banerjje ? In the long list of unlucky cricketers originating from Bengal, Shute Banerjee would probably find pride of place. He toured England in 1936 and 1946 without playing a Test. He played an unofficial `Test' as early as 1935 against Jack Ryder's Australian team, was good enough to play in three `Tests' against Lord Tennyson's team two years later, and also played one `Test' against the Australian Services team in 1945. But his full Test career was limited to just one appearance, by which time he was 35. His name however is immortalised by his batting heroics in a first class match at the Oval in 1946. He and Chandu Sarwate added 249 runs in 190 minutes for the last wicket for the Indian tourists against Surrey. Sarwate made 124 not out, Banerjee, going in last, scored 121 and it is still the only time in first-class cricket that Nos. 10 and 11 have scored centuries. That was a day when Bedser couldn't knock over two tailenders

Fast forward to my time - I started following cricket from circa 1973-74. Bengal has been a good cricketing state since early 1970s. I can name Gopal Bose, Raja and Raju Mukherjee (one of them writes for Calcutta Telegraph), Barun Burman, Subroto Porel, and Dilip Doshi as players who should have a chance to play for India.

Every one of them was capable of playing for India - and they were an exceptional - but typically laid back side. Gopal Bose played unofficial tests against Ceylone (Sri Lanka) and scored century. Doshi played for India with distinction, Subroto Porel was arguably best medium pacer at that time - and on his days Barun Barman could bowl real fast. Gopal Bose is another of the prime example of injustice shown to the Bengal Cricketers from the very beginning. In 1970s when ParthaSarathi Sharmas and Solkars were given chance after chance to partner Gavaskar - this opener was overlooked again and again. My question is WHY ?

Some may point out that Bengal never were the champions in those days. True, in those days - Bengal used to play in the regional league only and never made much impact in the second (knock out) stage – primarily because of "first innings lead" rule and their "happy go lucky" spirit. I however want to ask - does championship matter? If these players were talented - and I ascertain they were - why they were not given a chance?

Anyway - after them there was a temporary void - that improved with players from outside the state migrating to Bengal - specifically ArunLal and Ashok Malhotra. Sambaran Banerjee was an able leader (why he was overlooked and Bharat Reddy was taken to England ?) and Utpal Chatterjee(another spinner, overlooked again and again, preference given to Venkatapathy "Muscles" Raju) with some local good players (but not exceptional) like IB Roy, lead to good performance. Snehasish Ganguly, Sourav Ganguly, Devang Gandhi , Lr Shukla continued the tradition. Newer players are emerging.

The present team is the runners-up in last year's Ranji Trophy. Can someone tell me how many players from Bengal are in the Indian A team ? (Yes - I am not talking about the Indian team)

One or Two?

The tradition of neglect still continues.


Think of this background - think carefully of this background and tradition of consistently being neglected despite producing talented cricketers for more than 50 yrs & still being neglected - and then try to understand why that region of India is so passionate about Ganguly, why Ganguly is such an icon in Bengal. If you understand that, then try to criticise those fans, who see their iconic Indian Captain fall from grace and publicly humiliated by people of lesser credentials and react, at times violently. If you understand the pain and frustrations of generations of talented but neglected cricketers, then try to criticise those "retired 1st Class cricketer from Bengal" who see the fulfilment of their dreams through Ganguly. I see no wrong in the iconic status of Ganguly - as many of these pundits want us to believe. Ganguly for Bengal represents the answer to the long injustice - starting from Shute Banerjee in 1940s.

Without trying to understand this background, no one has any right to criticise the so called "fanatic fans". Neither they have any right to ignore and belittle these respected former cricketers.

Above all, if India's obsession with Sachin is not harmful and has not gone too far, Bengal's obsession with Ganguly has not gone far either.



Somsuj,

chief Moderator, IndianWatchdogs.com