'You've Got To Be Strong'

His poor batting form:

No, not again! But it is happening more and more often now to force even the die-hardoptimist to think twice. Skipper Saurav Ganguly's woeful lack of form with the batcontinues innings after innings. Will he, like the proverbial Phoenix, rise to soar theheights of greatness for posterity? Even the skipper himself does not seem to have all theanswers though a good bit of soul-searching reveals an honest urgency to quell all doubtsforever.

Just as his innumerable fans, Ganguly admits that every time he walks up to the crease,he expects to play those characteristic cover drives and lofty shots over the bowler'shead.

"I expect it every time I walk out to bat....I have struggled in the last 5-6 Testinnings. I think I should be back as quickly as possible," the skipper says with thedesperation in his tone defying the sombre countenance.

Is he trying too hard as was evident when he seemed to go across to that Andy Blignautdelivery which ended his knock in the second innings of the second and final Test beforeit could even start? In normal circumstances, he could have easily played it down thepitch.

"Yeah, I know. The lack of form doesn't affect the technique but maybe then youtry too hard. Then you try to do something extra which you shouldn't be doing. But if youwant to play 10-12 years of Test cricket, you've got to be strong enough to come out ofit."

"Yes, we do play too much of instant cricket, that's for sure. And it's reallydifficult to switch on from one to the other. But we can't help it because that's wherethe money comes from." Ganguly believes a rotation policy on the lines of Australiancricket team could help reduce the burden on the players.

Rotation of players:

"I believe a rotation policy could be a solution. Not because it is a busy season.It is because we should have 16-17 guys ready for the 2003 World Cup. They could only beconfident if they perform in the centre." To prove his point, Ganguly reasoned"In one-day cricket, the top four get an opportunity to bat most. Those who come atnumber five, six or seven usually get the last three-four overs and sacrifice theirwickets in order to score quick runs. After it has happened in a few games, suddenly inone big game the top three fail and they find themselves out in the middle.

"One good ball and the player is out. Then he realises he has done nothing in thelast five games. Now if there is a rotational policy, he might come to bat up in a fewgames, score a 80 or a hundred and the next time he is in a crunch situation, he wouldhave the confidence. "I think we should have this policy and we would go forit."

It is said often that though India has brilliant individual players they fail to wincrunch matches as a team.

"Believe me, honestly, we don't want to finish our careers when people say we weregood players but we couldn't win as a team. Previously we couldn't win crunch games as wedid not have a good bowling attack. But now we have a fairly good attack."

The seam attack:

The attack has undoubtedly improved but there must be some reason why our bowlers arenot able to pitch it up. Is it because of an inherent style or lack of strong shoulders?

"I would not say so about Ashish (Nehra). He bowled superbly without giving AndyFlower any width. Probably (Javagal) Srinath could do a bit but that has been his tendencyright through his career. I think we've got to work on it. If you watch Streak andBlignaut, they are probably not the best bowlers in the world. But they bowled to afantastic line and length. We probably have to do it as quickly as possible."

The captain may have high regard for Nehra but the left-arm seamer fron Delhi sawhimself out of the triangular one-day series despite an impressive show on the fast andbouncy tracks of Zimbabwe. It was only after tremendous pressure from the team managementthat the selectors decided to retain him for the tri-series.

Choice of players:

Such instances are normal in the career of an Indian captain who has to be content witha team not always of his choice. But Ganguly plays it down diplomatically.

"I won't say every time I didn't get the team I want. There have been instanceswhen I haven't got the player I wanted but that's going to happen. Six-seven people sittogether and everyone has an opinion. Some opinions might differ. At the end of the day,the selectors are the best judges. We are there to give suggestions. Honestly, I will tellyou in all my one-and-half years, about 75 per cent of the time, I have got the team Iwanted."

Contract system:

One of the ways to counter the whims and fancies of the selectors is to introduce acontract system and Ganguly supports the idea whole-heartedly. "We favour it. Ascricketers we need security. It is with any individual, whether you play cricket or youhave a job or you do a business of your own, you've got to be secure in life. I should getup in the morning and realise my life is secure. It is true with any individual. We havealready given our opinion to the board."

A contract system would also ensure that cricketers play for the team rather than forthemselves to secure their place in the squad, felt the skipper. Ganguly, who foundhimself at the receiving end of fierce criticism, often bordering on personal, during theentire Australian series, felt that while writing about matches, a journalist shouldconcentrate only on the game.

Foreign columnists:

Taking a dig at newspapers which invite foreigners to write columns for them, Gangulysaid, "I think we have guys who watch cricket, who have played cricket, who can writeand who can sell in India. Don't tell me somebody like (Sunil) Gavaskar, (Dilip)Vengsarkar or Kapil Dev will not sell as much as an X, Y or Z."

His marriage:

Ganguly also rubbished similar innuendoes hurled at his married life.

"There have been really a lot of rumours in the magazines which was really, reallysad and disappointing. It was all rubbish. I am very, very happily married and me and mywife are still together. We have got a lovely life. These things have never bothered mebecause you write anything you want but as long as my wife and I are happy, it doesn'tmatter."