DADA - As I know Him.

"Ganguly can have his Kolkata mansion, billions of rupees, 111 Tests and 7000-odd runs and counting, and the record as India's most successful Test captain … his biggest accomplishment has been getting up the noses of a team that succeeded in getting up the noses of everyone else - Australia." - The Sydney Herald.

With a century in his 1st innings and a "golden" duck in his last, a fairy tale career came to an end today, a career full of ups and downs, a career with peaks and falls, a career with controversies and praises, a career with fightbacks and comebacks, the career of one of India's most successful captain. People, hoping for a dream ending expected dada to leave the cricketing field with a bang, but that was not to be. He left rather meekly scoring a duck of the first ball he faced; well as some might say, even Sir Donald Bradman had a duck to his name of his last innings, and that too not a golden one :-).

As far as I can remember, it was someime in June,1996; West Bengal was talking only about one thing "Banglar Gaurav, Amader Sourav"; which means Sourav is the pride of Bengal. Well that was the day when DADA had scored his maiden test century on debut, and from then onwards there was no looking back. India had found one of its gems and West Bengal, its talisman, its true son of the soil. We have Cricketers from different states who play together as one nation, but a prominent cricketer from the "cricket-crazy" state was the answer to the prayers of the people from the land of Eden-Gardens.

I come from a staunch bengali family, and when Sourav came to the cricketing forefront my dad and uncles were all praises for him. I was the one who could point out his mistakes, but how can you beat obsession. I grew up watching dada play and for me there was hope even after Sachin. The chants "Banglar Gaurav, Amader Sourav" again came up in the year 2000 when dada was selected as the captain of the India cricket team. Cricket is a religion in India, and at that time in Kolkata, Cricket had become something more than a religion. His aggressive approach to the game, no-fear attitude and shrewd captaincy led India to the World Cup 2003 finals. But, slowly the responsibility of captaincy started affecting his batting form, and after a number of controversies ( major being the chapell-ganguly row ) he was stripped off his captaincy which ultimately led to him being dropped from the team. But, the world did not come to an end after this. He continued to perform in the domestic circuit and was determined to return to international cricket. He was recalled in the ICC Champions trophy 2006 and what a comeback it was. He inspired the players with his "never-say-quit" mantra, his perseverance and his sheer desire to play cricket.

Today ( 10th November,2008 ) was his last day and what a memorable day it was. Exactly 8 years ago on the same day Dada had begun his tenure as the captain of India. Dhoni gave Ganguly a chance to make the same day, 8 years later, more memorable by offering him to lead the team for 5 overs ( as a farewell gift ). That was a fabulous gesture on Dhoni's part. India finally managed to wrap up the series 2-0 and the Prince of Kolkata ended his career on a winning note.

Ganguly made valuable conributions to his last series and when asked about the last match, this is what he had to say - "I was disappointed with the 85 I got. I was so close to getting a hundred. That was more disappointing than the first-ball duck".

Ganguly had made his decision to retire before the series started, but today, when the feeling dawned upon me that this is officially dada's last day, the feeling didn't sink in. I still could not believe that dada had announced his retirement from international cricket. He was the topic of discussion at any public place back home, coffee joints, pubs, bars, marriage parties, rallies, get togethers, even durga puja pandals............ suddenly everything seems to have faded into the oblivion. Everything seems to be a dream, a sad reality - the end of an ERA. Miss You DADA and Thank You for all that you have done to Indian Cricket.

"At the start of the millennium, Ganguly started the journey to "raise Indian cricket's profile overseas". For 10 minutes this afternoon just before a famous triumph was clinched, the past and future were intertwined. In so many ways, Dhoni is the best man to carry forward the Ganguly flame. These could well be the best of times. " - Cricinfo