Match Point

Saurav Ganguly has a big spacious face on which, in an unconfirmed calculation, 500 words could be written in font size ten. Single spacing. That's the only way to read the man. Many who thought they understood him because he called them "brother" or let them stay in his house have been rudely surprised. It's a face that gives away nothing, except during moments like when he took off his shirt to return the compliments of a misled English lad called Andrew Flintoff.

This grave ponderous face is part of a self-styled mutation of Saurav Ganguly's public image. The one-time spoilt prince is today "an articulate captain" who will bravely answer the favourite Indian question "What went wrong?", and "a thinking captain" who will lead a string of white elephants into a cricket field—not like a disproportionate mahout but an authority as large. Ganguly is the first Indian captain to have made himself a force that need not essentially bat or bowl well but just be. It's a time in his life that should fetch him maximum endorsement money for the next phase is called retirement. "Everybody has to earn," he says.

But his agent Percept D'Mark missed the point.

Before his three-year contract with Percept ended in September this year, the firm's CEO Sanjay Lal made a plan for him by which, according to market estimates, Saurav would earn about Rs 30 crore in the next five years. World Sport Nimbus made an offer close to Rs 45 crore for the same period and not Rs 60 crore as initial media reports suggested. Nimbus' co-chairman Harish Thawani officially denies he ever made an offer to Ganguly but it's true that he did. As Sanjay Lal says with a mild snort, "everybody knows".

Ganguly entered into negotiations with Thawani six weeks before his contract with Percept was to end. That was breach of contract, but Ganguly is a man who puts constructive self-interest above fine print. If he could irritate Steve Waugh consistently when Australia last toured India by turning up late for the toss, his regard for norms must be fairly low. But what he didn't know was that there was a clause in his contract with Percept. It had the "right to match". This meant whatever deal Ganguly was offered had to be shown to Percept, which would then decide if it could match it or not. To make sure that Ganguly showed them the new deal, Percept went to court. "For no reason at all," Ganguly says. But soon he sent the details of his new contract to Percept. "And we have matched it," says Lal. Percept will offer Ganguly what Thawani did—about Rs 45 crore for five years, as long as he plays for the country.

Five years is half a life in sports. And 31-year-old Ganguly is in the final lap of a cricketer's life. So was he merely trying to maximise his twilight earnings by going for a better offer? Or is he a greedy man? "It's not just old-fashioned greed which all of us have," says a sports agent. "It's also prestige. Self-esteem. Saurav, the proud captain, is standing up to Sachin Tendulkar. It's not just money. It's status. One-upmanship."

It's a difficult matter to verify with Ganguly. There is no sensitive way to ask. But all the blood and gore in the question must be spilled. Does Saurav Ganguly want to stand up to the gigantic aura of Sachin Tendulkar, a presence that will for a few years more shadow every cricketer in the team, captain or otherwise? "I am not in competition with my teammates," Ganguly says—and stops because somewhere in the house his little daughter has begun to cry. When he returns to the ring, he looks as though he has finished the answer.

Thawani's offer to Ganguly was, according to an insider, "an irresistible plan to make him a global personality". The captain was offered new endorsements of a sports apparel brand that had no presence in India but wanted to launch some sort of a global campaign with three international cricketers, and a watch brand about to enter India.Adds the insider: "A stage comes in a sportsman's life when it's not enough if he has endorsements. What matters is what he endorses." That's one reason Worldtel doesn't want Sachin to shine a tooth and endorse toothpastes anymore. Telecom, telephony and luxury products will be the only areas Sachin will be positioned now.

"Percept didn't do justice to Saurav's image as captain. Also they seemed to have told him in some way or the other that Sachin will get the best deals because he is the most popular cricketer," says an executive who was involved in managing Ganguly. "Saurav never really looked at things that way. He knew his image as captain was very strong." There is a premium on captaincy. "Yes, captaincy ups the price of a player," says Lal. "To some brands, like say Pepsi, it really doesn't matter if the player is captain. But to Hero Honda, for example, it matters because their positioning is leadership".

While Percept has decided to go out and fetch about Rs 9 crore every year for Ganguly, the question a few agents are asking is, does the captain have the time to endorse any more products? "Of course I have time," says Ganguly. "Any working man has to manage time between work and family. My cricket will never suffer because of commercial commitments. Nor will my family."

One hundred and twenty days is a rough estimate of the time he may have to devote to endorsements and promotions every year. Whatever be the fate of these commitments, Ganguly was right after all in presuming that the Indian captain deserved more than just Rs 6 crore a year in endorsements. Not entirely tied to financial returns is the fact that Ganguly feels the glory of his job every living moment. But it's not just an honour. He has worked towards making a small world better. He persisted with young players despite pressure to sack them. "I believe in continuity," he says. "I feel youngsters should be given enough chances to prove themselves. It's not easy to make a young team give the kind of performance it did in the last World Cup. It's a tough job, being captain."

All through the World Cup, during the nets and in hotel corridors, he appeared serious, even a bit lost and ponderous. "It's the mind ticking," he says. "Being captain changes you as a person." It usually changes fortunes and public perceptions too. Gavaskar was accused of being the foe of Kapil Dev and limited-overs entertainment. Kapil Dev and Azharuddin were accused of old age. Sachin Tendulkar, who had never received bad press till then, was accused of horrendous field placement in Australia. He was told that he was not batting as well as he used to before. Sachin never agreed but decided to step down.

Ganguly has been condemned too but there is a popular belief that he in fact has what some people call "a cricketing mind". Even after frequent stretches of bad form, he has survived as captain in a highly unforgiving nation. But the tour of Australia later this year will be a decisive phase in his life. The treacherously fast pitches and a host team that, though lacking in social graces, is said to be among the best sides ever to play cricket, will test Ganguly. An Australia tour has a certain character, an eerie foreboding that it will end a few careers among visitors, especially those of captains.

But before that, Ganguly will lead India against New Zealand in a home series that despite all official denials is seen as a revenge series. When India visited New Zealand last year, they were made to play on cultivated land that the hosts called pitches. After one of the many humiliating Indian defeats, Kiwi captain Stephen Fleming doubted aloud if the Indian batting line-up deserved its formidable fame. "He said something like that, didn't he?" Ganguly says and keeps quiet.

It's possible that Fleming may hear from Ganguly very soon. A short blunt insult during the post-match press conference, and a very broad smile.