It’s easy to get nostalgic while watching Sourav Ganguly lead a bunch of upbeat Knight Riders ahead of their crucial game against the Mumbai Indians tomorrow. With his cheeky dig at the national selectors after the last match still fresh in the mind, noticing the trademark swagger in his walk brings back memories of the time when Ganguly ruled Indian cricket.

The Indian Premier League (IPL), even if temporarily, has seen Ganguly take off the mask he wore after his comeback to the national side. The former skipper, on his return to Team India, seemed to keep his distance from the core group and quietly went about his job. But suddenly, from gracefully adjusting to a life as a commoner, he finds himself in a leadership role again with a golden helmet on his head. And the famous aggression has suddenly returned.

Helping Ganguly be his old self are a couple of factors that are, once again, a throwback to those heady days in the early 2000s. Like John Wright, Kolkata coach John Buchanan is a methodical man who who goes by the book. The low-key Aussie doesn’t mind backing Ganguly’s famous instincts. A case in point is the drama surrounding Shoaib Akhtar’s IPL debut against the Delhi Daredevils. Within minutes of nearing the Kolkata Knight Riders camp, one heard stories about how Buchanan wasn’t keen to draft the not- quite-fully-fit Akhtar in the XI but it was Ganguly who talked him into changing the decision before the Delhi match.

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