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The Kolkata Knight Riders was launched with a lot of fanfare. There were dances, music and the King of Bollywood, Shah Rukh Khan,who owns this team, was also there to show his charisma and boost the morale of the team And I still remember his words spoken just before the commencement of  IPL-I –  that “so long as Kolkata Knight Riders is playing –  Saurav Ganguly will remain as it’s Captain. But what happened ? The team got a thrashing from all quarters and today is standing at number  eighth position of  the eight participating teams.  Can you guess what happened? Saurav did not perform to his potential Why?. Do you remember that the 326 runs required in London 5 years ago were achieved by none other than  India in an ODI and it was then that Saurav had performed  as he was then committed to the team and later  removed his shirt and ran down to the pitch to greet Yuvraj and Kaif. Please remember the famous dictum – . History repeats itself and one should learn from it.

It is once again a rift between the Captain of a team and the foreign coach. It all started with the arrival of John Buchannan followed by the multi- captaincy issue brought forth by him. And somehow Shah Rukh Khan also relented to the coach’s advice and made Macullum the captain instead of Saurav Ganguly. Do you remember what happened when  Greg Chappel was appointed the coach of the Indian team? Saurav Ganguly was sacked as the Captain of Indian Cricket team and after one more match (as a player) he was not considered in the playing eleven  and asked to warm the bench – eh?

I would ask my readers to enlighten every one as to what went wrong after the arrival of Greg Chappel on the Indian Cricket scenario? Greg Chappel’s second victim was Irfan Pathan who was sent back to India while the team was on tour to England. Pathan was directed by him to play Ranji Trophy for a few months before facing the selection committee once again. This is not done. Irfan Pathan is by all means a superb bowler and had just then taken a hat-trick in an ODI in the very first over of the match.. The duty of the coach is to pinpoint the fault in a player and suggest remedial measures instead of throwing him out.

And then Ganguly’s body language tells it all. He cannot conceal his feelings behind his face.  He does not perform as second fiddle in the team. Ganguly has been titled as prince of Kolkata. Agreed in his hey days he was irreplaceable but there is a time for everything. The tournament has eight teams and eight captains. But then the hundred odd players are also playing with dedication and carving out a place for themselves in the annals of history. What is this child -like behavior? I will perform only if I am the Captain – otherwise not? He did not perform well and what is the result? He has not been able to maintain his self respect- position and due to that also Kolkata Knight Riders is now at the bottom of the table and I don’t think there is any way that they can even make it to the Semi’s. Saurav might have to find another sponsor in IPL 3 as I know that Shah Rukh is a very strong person and will not repeat his mistake.

Ravi Matah.

Tags: IPL T20, Kolkata Knight Riders

This entry was posted on Monday, May 4th, 2009 at 6:23 am and is filed under Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.