I’ve begun writing this column minutes after Sourav Ganguly completed his century at Mohali (and was dismissed almost immediately afterwards trying to hit one of his trademark sixes). And what I can only say is: Salute! And how fitting that he ends it against Australia, against whom he has fought his most memorable battles, on the field and in the mind. Ganguly’s place will be reserved in cricket history along with all those quirky people whose statistics are not at the top of the spreadsheet and whose numbers give any indication of what they achieved. Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi’s career average hardly reflects the fact that he turned a bunch of habitual losers into a team of occasional winners. Gundappa Vishwanath’s statistics won’t tell you that every century he scored was a match-winning or match-saving one. Mohinder Amarnath’s Test average of 42.5 (Ganguly’s is 41.7) will mean nothing to those who haven’t seen him face the most fearsome pace attacks in the world and stare them down.

Selected to represent India at the age of 19 in 1992, he came in to bat against Australia in an ODI after Srikkanth had fallen for 4, Sidhu for 1, Manjrekar for 1, and Azharuddin for 8. He scored 3, and never played for India again for four years. When he was selected for the England tour in 1996, we scorned the selectors’ decision: yet another example of the zonal quota system. But he scored a century on debut and then another in the next test. We thought he was a genius, an Indian David Gower. And then he proved us wrong; bowlers figured him out. Bowl at his body, target his ribs. You can contain him. So he trained. He put on more body armour than any batsman in history and he learnt the pull and the sweep.

... contd.