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Shantanu S. Bhattacharyya
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Unsold or Priceless ?

Some men are born great, some become great and some have greatness thrust upon them.

Yes, but same with stupidity !.

First the disclaimer - yes this is yet another blog by yet another Sourav Ganguly fan. Now, given my shared linguistic identity with Dada, if you have already made up your mind that this article is inherently biased and devoid of objective analysis, then please read no further. I am a half decent writer whose power of logic and persuasion will clearly be inadequate to penetrate you bias against my 'perceived bias' for Ganguly. On the other hand, if you are willing to consider my point of view and then judge the validity of the arguments presented, then irrespective of whether you agree or disagree, I will be grateful to you.

If I had to name two people who left the biggest impression on me in the last two decades, Shahrukh Khan and Sourav Ganguly would feature right at the top. So, when the Indian Premier League (IPL) announced the teams four years back, choosing my favorite side was a no brainer. A club representing my native city, owned by Shahrukh and lead by Dada, Kolkata Knigh Riders (KKR) was obviously the team to follow. The commercials began to hit the small screen and the Shahrukh-Ganguly combo made sure that even the most dispassionate would take note of 'Korbo Lorbo Jeetbo'.

Three IPLs later, KKR has managed to become the most controvertial, most ridiculed, worst performing club in the league. Their response - 'Drop the guy who scored the maximum runs for the team and was the fourth highest run - getter in the tournament. Also happens to be the guy whose record as a captain of the national side speaks for itself'.

The incident reminds me of a management joke - "Who is a good manager ? One who owns up to his mistakes. Who is a great manager ? One who can fix the blame on others"

KKR had a very ordinary first IPL. The most obvious reason for the debacle was the choice of indian players. In a side that had 52 players, only three indian players had any international exposure. Why were there 52 players ? Why wasn't the money invested on lesser but better players ? Shahrukh's response - "I am a capitalist, vulgar, dumb star". Great ! So he didn't have much to do with the selection of players and I trust him. Its the management that screwed up.

Even before the 2nd IPL began, KKR again was hogging all the limelight. This time for their breakthrough in captaincy theory led by a certain Dr. Buchanan which said four captains are better than one. I wasn't surprised at this dumb and preposterous idea from an australian coach. But I was indeed shocked that the idea had its takers. The management once again found it easier to blame Sourav than own up to its mistakes. Buchanan needed the KKR instute of advanced cricketing ideas to try his antiques and with Sourav around, this was not gonna happen. His country-mate Guru Greg had already set a precedent. If you create enough confusion and apply the right pressure then team management eventually gives up on Sourav. Guru greg's experiments were a disaster. And his experimental results were duplicated by Buchanan. If I google hard enough, there might be a journal paper lurking somewhere - A highly enriched protocol to guide a team to oblivion by messing up established leadership - Buchanan & Chappel* (corresponding author).
Wasn't Shahrukh aware of this past ? Didn't he realise that unlike soccer, cricket is about captains and not coaches ? Did he doubt Ganguly's abilities as a leader ? But then he might just respond that he is a 'capitalist, vulgar, dumb star' and team management does the thinking.

By the beginning of 3rd edition, it was easier to forgive Shahrukh as a Ganguly fan. Not only was Dada back to doing what he did best - lead a side, Buchanan was also banished from the side. KKR looked a much better side, and if it wasn't for the inexplicable loss against Punjab, they might have even featured in the semis. The problem crippling KKR was still lack of solid national players but even then, the third edition was far more understandable than the first two. Ganguly once again came out as the most prized asset of KKR and yet his effort and the team's efforts fell short. Sad but understandable.

And then came the auctions for IPL4. Even the least innovative strategist for KKR would have understood that the trick lies in giving Ganguly a decent side to work with. So, they should have retained him at the earliest and given him a free hand in selection decisions, of'course keeping in view the economics of the selection process. This worked for the national side when it was in tatters. We went from a country mired in match fixing controversy to playing the finals of the World Cup. KKR would have been a much easier organisation to clean up. And yet Shahrukh management to put his stamp on a decision that made no sense either in terms of sports or business.

Would he care to explain why a guy who could bat, bowl and captain and did that successfully in past editions, not retained ? Why was he not even bid for at the base price while $ 4 million fetched only two players for them ? Now none of us are knaive enough to believe it was based on his cricketing potential. So I won't even get into that argument. The most explicable reason doing the rounds is that Ganguly is percieved as a 'trouble maker' for the side and won't abide by the coach or the owner. He cannot play as a team player. Yakkity yakkity yak. Yes I heard all those before. The same arguments that prevented his inclusion in the national side till 2006. Then against all wishes and under media scanner, Ganguly had to be given a chance. Rest is history. Even from a business perspective it doesn't make sense. KKR was the worst performing and yet most profitable club in the last three editions. Reason - An emotional support from the city that loves its icons. You put a Sourav pic or label on any merchandise and it will be lapped off the shelves.

Forget the sales, this time I wont be surprised if Shahrukh is booed and jeered by the same fans that danced with him irrespective of the past performance. Unsporting, fanatic crowd did you say ?? Well you weren't asking for logic when the same crowd was filling up the KKR coffers, were you ? Shahrukh came up with a press release a couple of hours back - "No Dada no KKR".

Yeahh thanks dude!! You may be a vulgar dumb capitalist but we are not. I have grown up admiring you and loving you and thats why I am going to give you the benefit of doubt. You were not born stupid. Stupidity was thrust upon you.