July 26, 2006: No permanent mentors and no permanent wards. Ask Sourav Ganguly, India’s most successful skipper or his brother Snehashish who have ganged up to dump Jagmohan Dalmiya, who was ‘chief patron’ of the BCCI not long ago but today is a nobody in Indian cricket.

Sourav dumping him – a little too crudely by sending across an email to brother Snehashish so that it can be released to the friendly neighbourhood Bengali media – may be a sign that the Dalmiya era has well and truly ended in Indian cricket. One of those challenging Dalmiya in his home turf is Snehashish himself who is running for one of the offices in Cricket Association of Bengal elections. Then, there is this police officer who wants to be the state board president. Amen!

What was the last memorable act by Snehashish before he released this abusive email from his illustrious brother to the media? Well, a few years ago, after India fared badly in the World Cup final, he went ballistic against his brother, questioning his patriotism and demanding his resignation as captain. It made good copy for the hungry hounds of the Bengali media but intelligent observers thought it was but a stage-managed show to drive home the patriotic credentials of the Chandi Ganguly family.

In the email, riddled with grammar mistakes, Sourav accuses Dalmiya of playing with his career and there can’t be a bigger joke than this. Clearly, he would not have returned to the team or become captain but for Dalmiya’s generous backing. Now that his protégé has turned against him, Dalmiya has accused his bete noire I.S. Bindra of being the real villain. This may or may not be true, but the point is that Sourav is too desperate to get back into the team and TV and doesn’t want the Dalmiya tag to come in the way. It is nothing but a naked attempt to jump out of Dalmiya’s sinking ship but and hop onto the rival Pawar camp.

In fact, the attempts to disown Dalmiya began soon after Sharad Pawar took over. After he was dropped from the team, the former Indian captain went and met Pawar and managed to get back into the team only to be dumped again, thanks to another (head) strong personality called Greg Chapell.

Getting selected because of godfathers is no new phenomenon in Indian cricket. One of them who benefited immensely was Mohammed Azharuddin who had a patron in the form of Raj Singh Dungarpur who backed him to the hilt till his name figured in the match-fixing controversy. Sourav of course had Dalmiya but Sachin Tendulkar did not allow anyone to be his mentor except Mark Maskeranhas. Because of this, he
lost out on the captaincy sweepstakes but earned millions and millions by way of advertising revenue.

The episode also gives us this lesson that ‘democratic power’ is hardly absolute. After all, you win and reach the top by pleasing many, many people and once you are not well-liked, the downfall begins. Well, before we finish, there could be a bigger game in all this. Sourav Ganguly was one of the shrewdest captains India has seen and there can be no two opinions on this. Not just in cricketing terms but the way in which he successfully manipulated the administrators, media and the public. So, all this may be an attempt to have a second innings as a cricket
administrator.

If Don Bradman could do it, why not Sourav?