The Royal Ganguly snub and a few lessons...

These are hard times for Sourav Ganguly. Similarly, these are hard times for me to keep my objectivity intact for purely cricket reasons.

Tough to understand why Sourav, who displayed one of the best batting performances in the last IPL edition (Amongst the top 5 run getters with an impressive strike rate) get ruthlessly snubbed in the IPL auction.

First inference is that he was snubbed not on the basis of performance.

Was he snubbed because of his age?

Not really!! Warnie, Gilchrist, Dravid & Laxman also found place in the auction.

Was it because of his larger than life approach to cricket?

Naaah!!!! Remember his performance in the Sri Lanka tour after his comeback from a considerable break due to a spat with Aussie Dimwit 'Greg Chappel'. He integrated with the team fabric in an effortless manner and even won the 'Man of the series' award.


Was it because he doesnot gell well with Aussie coaches (Most of the team coaches in IPL are from the Aussie land)?

Maybe Yes!!!

Whatever be the reason, here are a few lessons one can learn from the 'Royal Snub':

• Be careful of your image: His 'Prince of Kolkata' image probably went against him. Team management might have found him tough to be handled.

• There is nothing like 'over-communication': Ganguly is an honourable man, yet he should have seeked complete information from various teams to gauge their interest in buying him.Only after that he should have made himself available for the auction.(He could have also gone the Kumble way)

• Honour versus Idealism: Shahrukh Khan extended the olive branch to him offering a chief mentor role in KKR. He has not been very kind to the request. But if he truly cares about KKR then he might just accept the role of a mentor and play an integral role in fulfilling KKR's mission of 'Korbo..Lorbo..Jeetbo Re!!!(We will do..fight & win)' .Of course with KKR in context, there would have been too many mentors and there is certainly nothing official about it.Saurav is intelligent and let him decide the rest.

• Keep the passion on!!!: If the intent and passion is right then many seemingly significant (otherwise insignificant) outcomes do not matter in long run. His fans will always love him. His critics will always make ridiculous judgements. But he will be respected by all forever and beyond. Till now his batting did the talking. It's time his silence does the talking. And if he ever gets the bat he will ROAR!!! In the true ROYAL BENGAL STYLE!!!!