His colleagues say — perhaps even exaggerate a little — that ‘Dadi’ saw the hunger to play in Shoaib’s eyes and, like in the past, defied conventional logic to back him. These days, Kolkata isn’t churning out stories about their tragic hero’s against-all-odds comeback. Intead, tales about Ganguly’s inspirational leadership are back in circulation.

One big difference

The one big difference between the sides Ganguly has led in the past and Knight Riders is Akhtar. During his days as India captain, Ganguly had one big regret — the absence of an express quick in his line-up. “I think I’m destined only to face real fast bowlers. I never get a real quick in my side,” he had said. Bowlers with a lower reading on the speedometer such as Javagal Srinath, Zaheer Khan and Ashish Nehra had been always on Ganguly’s favourites list during his stint as India captain.

It was this trio that was responsible for the biggest high of the Ganguly-Wright era — a place in the 2003 World Cup final. “Now if we just get one genuine fast bowler in this team, we’ll be unbeatable,” Ganguly had then said .

Akhtar provides him with the fire-power that he so desperately wanted. At Kolkata the other day, as Akhtar was running through the Delhi top-order, Ganguly jumped around like a child who had finally got what he had always dreamed of. And the big smile on Akhtar’s face on Tuesday had not faded at Wankhede today, providing an interesting off-shoot to the story: If Ganguly has never got a pacer like Akhtar in his line-up, some experts say the Rawalpindi Express has never quite got a skipper who backed him to the hilt.

... contd.