Finally, the announcement came at the time and place of his choosing, when the world was least expecting it. It was just another Tuesday in Bangalore, a normal, boring afternoon in which players are expected to utter insipid nothings at a press conference two days before the match. Sourav Ganguly spoke about the pitch, the bowlers, the team’s strengths and weaknesses, and when all mundane questions had been addressed, he stopped the reporters for a final declaration.

“This is my last series...Hopefully, I will go out on a winning note,” he said, hurrying away before he could be probed further, more emotions running through him than his demeanor revealed.

Eighteen days before that, sitting in a coffee shop in Chandigarh — where he had come to play the local J P Atray tournament to escape the rains in Kolkata — he had calmly talked about his desire to fight on after being overlooked for the Irani Cup. “I’ll go, but not like this,” he had said with a glint in his eyes. “This isn’t the way it’s going to end.”

In his latest moment of crisis — and there have been far too many over the last few years — Ganguly was strong, and determined that when he quit, it would be as a member of Team India.

Ganguly has been called many names but has seldom been fully understood. Lord Snooty. Prince of Kolkata. Divisive Force. God on the off side. He twirled his shirt at Lord’s and silently shed tears in Jamaica. He scored 144 in bouncy Brisbane, and supposedly ran away from a green Nagpur. To the cricket world, the real Dada was a mystery.

... contd.