He has spoken ill of his team-mates, charged that every Tom, Dick and Harry has played for India. “Everything is possible in Indian cricket,” he is quoted as saying. “When Greg [Chappell] dropped me, TP Singh was my replacement. Where is he now?” He took a swing at the previous selection committee too, saying, “If the present committee had come three years earlier, the situation would have been slightly better for me.”

All this during an important series which the player has said will be his last. Those who expected him to pull out the second most popular quote in sport (after “we waz robbed”): “I was misquoted”, are waiting still.

Ganguly’s silence is hardly reassuring. His nudge-nudge, wink-wink style, has already given rise to needless speculation. For example, who was he talking about when he said that some players have “changed their hairstyle more than they have scored”? About the only player it cannot refer to is Virender Sehwag who hasn’t much hair left to style.

That Ganguly has his grievances cannot be doubted. But there is a time and a place to air them.

He has presented the board with a nice problem. Do they ignore the code of conduct and condone his outburst simply because he is playing his last series? Do they appoint a committee to look into the matter? Just how far back should the governing body bend to accommodate a player apparently determined to pursue a scorched-earth policy and cause havoc before he leaves? The board must ask for an explanation, and act quickly.

He deserves to have the ignominy of being the only player to be dropped in his farewell series. I think the lines that best illustrate the person he really is are "every Tom, Dick and Harry has played for India." He has always been a snob, and like most snobs really isn't as good as he thinks he is at what he does. He might be revered by (a few) Indians, but outside India the view we get is he is a spoilt rich upper caste brat who is a mediocre batsmen. His only asset is his timing, hardly useful when he can only play on one side of the wicket. I pity those who think he created anything but havoc.

Team spirit, eh? The only man who is expected to show team spirit is Ganguly, is he not? When he stood up for Dravid, who was almost dropped just before the 2003 world cup, or for that matter when he backed harbhajan singh, yuvraj singh big time at a time when they weren't performing, you call him arrogant. And when he gets dropped from the team, that spineless Dravid says its not his business at all. Don't talk about team spirit. That people feel like watching India play cricket is because of Ganguly's contributions. But who cares what he did. Anyways, who cares anymore...

It cannot refer to Sehwag because he was not in the team much and he has scored far better than any of the others. My guess Vengsarkar making rubbish return statements and it just about sums up the level of maturity the big guys in indian cricket have. Indian cricket still survives because of the fans and some sensible people like dravid and laxman still left in the game. Otherwise it would all be a bunch of jokers and cricket might as well be held in a circus tent!!

Saying the truth should not be confused with violation of code. There are some obvious anomolies in team selection in India for quite some time and if ganguly deserves to go so does Dravid who looks like he is on a punishment everytime he walks into the field or so is kumble who is literally wasting a bowlers slot everytime he walks into play. If we pick out the best batsmen or bowlers in Indian team for teh last two yrs - none of the fab-four or five would figure in there. Ganguly infact was the only one who deserved his place on merit for the last yr being the highest scorer for the yr. And BCCI has long been an expert in gagging everyone.. it is better if ppl in the media stopped advocating that.

You make a vaild point Suresh. While I am a huge, huge fan of Ganguly, I think that he's taken undue advantage of the fact that he's retiring and has made comments he wouldn't have dare made had he decided not to retire.

I definitely think that Ganguly had been wronged, especially, the decision to drop him for the Irani trophy lacked complete logic to say the least. You would want your most experienced players to go into battle with Australia. So, what Vengsarkar and co. did defied common sense.

However, Ganguly has now gone a step further. His comments have now held the team spirit of team India to ransom. I just can't imagine the mood in the Indian dressing room right now. That Dhoni would even be talking to Ganguly would be a miracle. Imagine Dhoni and Ganguly in an important partnership to save this test match. Surely, every time Dhoni looks up at Ganguly, he would remember his comments.

Retirement or no retirement, Ganguly must be reprimanded for this! Period!

Quite obviously the person with changing hair styles has been Dhoni and if Ganguly means to say he deserved to be in the team ahead of Dhoni...I am not sure what he has been smoking

Ganguly deserved to be dropped when he did because of his poor run of form and while no one can deny his grit and determination in making a comeback and earlier in his captaincy it has been obvious that he would put self before team like in the current context. Drawing attention to himself and spoiling the dressing room atmosphere in a crucial series such as this shows that very selfishness.

Ganguly did not deserve a place in the team at the first place. His fielding was there for everyone to see during the Australian innings. Even against Newzeland A team , he could not score runs. The question is would he be playing as a burden to the team in all the 4 tests? All the senior players have been living on past reputations for quite some time. It is time that they are shown to the door and new blood inducted. After all these so called fab 4 did not take the world by storm in their first few matches and took time to do so. Tendulkar took 11 matches to get his first test hundred and 78 matches to get his first ODI hundred !!!

The author should take heart from Ganguly's recent statements. After all if "Everything is possible in Indian cricket,” and "every Tom, Dick and Harry" can represent the side, then the author's belief that he might never represent India could well turn on its head. Here's wishing someone who has written these entertaining blogs all the best at entertaining us on a cricket pitch!

I couldn't help but chuckle reading your article. I had read your 'leaving with dignity' article and for once I actually thought that ganguly was going to leave with dignity. Boy, was I wrong.

And now vengsarkar coming out with 'I will let him know' stunt, I think its safe to say us indians (or asians in general) don't know what it is to dignify our exit. I have a feeling tendulkar's exit is not going to be dignified either, sort of like kapil dev.

I don't care what anyone says, in my opinion, tendulkar has already hung on longer than he should have and he is probably going to linger another couple of years (at least) if not more.

Kumble is past his sell by date, so is dravid. But hey, we are indians.

It's stunning to see the BCCI's silence on this issue. Before my admiration for Ganguly's sense of timing for retirement could sank in, he made cricket lovers like me feel disgusting. He should be banned for at least one test immediately. He seems to be angry that Dhoni ended his ODI career. Well he didn't play Kumble in ODIs for years when Kumble was still not done. A captain's job is not easy and sad to see his outburst when he himself knows it better than most. But for effigy burnings in Bengal every time he was dropped irrespective of his form, he would have been gone long ago. I enjoyed when he was at his best and his contribution to Indian cricket can never be forgotten but I am relieved that he is retiring now.

I understand Ganguly's outrage and now this has become like the Atapattu issue. You can have a thousand committees and demand explanation- but truth hardly changes.
The hair-do comment is probably directed at Robin Uthappa who was retained for the CB series.
Ganguly is a sensible cricketer; after seeing Dhoni perform in Eng, Aus, etc he wouldnt make such a comment about Dhoni

In 1992, when Ganguly visited Australia as a teen ager, he was seen as having a serious attitudinal problem. Though most of us did not know it then, Ganguly's phenomenal baptism in Tests and his performances in ODIs, enabled his inherent problem to be glossed over. Psychic traits apparent in one at a young age can never be uprooted. They can at best be modulated so that they do not to show too obviously. As long as he was Captain he could afford to play favourites because he had a fair success percentage. Once he is denied, the trait which lay dormant because of the carrots on offer, comes out regardless of things like team spirit which he lays claim to being the only one capable of creating. If this is what Ganguly always was, this Test should be his swansong. When I was in school, I knew some boys who would make fun of others or go complaining if another boy was rewarded. The common strain between them and Ganguly is that they were affluent. D we need sick people in the team ?

Mr. Menon and to all those who don't hesitate to trash Ganguly; for God's sake, STOP! It is probably one thing being an armchair critic and writing nonsense about someone day in and day out and quite another performing when chips are down. For those who think Ganguly was a mediocre player, take my advice - please don't insult the game or his contribution to Indian cricket.. or show your ignorance in public through frivolous statements such as these. Everyone knows what Tendulkar and Dravid did to the team when they were at the helm of affairs; records speak for themselves. A person with even half a brain who followed Indian cricket post the scandalous episode of match fixing knows what character Ganguly was made of to change the whole complexion of the team. From a bunch of talented and directionless individuals he created a side that not only brought India glory but the honour and dignity it so lacked. Have some shame and show respect to this great servant of cricket.

i think ganguly was referring to utthappa, who is picked ahead of ganguly in ODIs. utthappa has changed his hair style of late. of course, people would not notice that becasue he does not stay at the crease long enough.

While Ganguly has been a great captain for India, it's hard to understand such petulance. Could he not have waited till the end of the series? I am waiting to see how he will behave as a selector (he will inevitably be one someday) after his less than exemplary behaviour as a player.

There is absolutely no doubt that Ganguly was one of the best player to represent India. He played with fighting spirit, courage and enthusiasm in the team and set a good example as to how to fight sledging. However hitting out at your team mates and the Selectors is an undignified way to end a great career both as a captain and great batsmen of the Indian test team. I am sure every Cricketer and sportsman has some injustice done to him. But if everybody were to hit out at the very players you play with as a team member then that is "Simply Not Cricket". Timing is terrible to say the least and puts the new & the outgoing Selectors on the spot.If he had an axe to grind he could have done so in a more dignified way, e.g., in his autobiography as most cricketers do these day after they retire.Tomorrow his turn will come to bat and he can make a statement by playing an unforgetable innings. Can Ganguly rise to the occasion and show us all how graet he still is by his deeds NOT by words.

Gangully should be glad that he is included in this series. I think the new selectors are showing him some sympathy by including him. He should have been out of the team five years ago, not only for his poor performance for his dirty politics inside the team. Some of his fans will say did you see what he did against Pakistan? My question is do you judge someone by one or two series? Some would say he scored over 10000 runs, if so then we need to bring back Sunil Gavaskar. Because he scored a lot of runs. Gangully needs to go away and do something else, may be politics in Bengal. I am sure he would do good there. Cricket is not for him anymore.

It is sad we never were able to show respect to our cricket players.When Zidane headbutted in the World Cup finals in 2006, the whole of the nation stood by him and didn't condemn...Ganguly has always had to fight with the political giant of the BCCI, yet rather than stand by one of the great of Indian cricket during his last series, we are supporting a corrupt Indian cricket system..it was Ganguly who gave a break to players like Dhoni, yet it is ironic that Dhoni just waited for Ganguly to play one bad series and then decided to drop him.....the Indian team is winning now but it won't be for long...and when the time comes for Dhoni to retire we will see how long he wants to stick around..these guys.Tendulkar,Dravid, Ganguly, Laxman, gave up their life to play cricket for India...how many times did they change their hairstyle or party till the night...wait till the team is filled with youngsters....it will then be more about the money and lifestyle and the love for the game and India

I think first of all we should first validate whether the statements that he made are true or not. I dont think Ganguly is that stupid a fellow to make such comments in the middle of a crucial test series. So guys before blaming Ganguly the credibility of the comments need to be judged.

Maybe Ganguly should have waited until after the series to make such remarks but the truth is that there is some validity in his remarks. The selectors HAVE made some pretty shoddy decisions and Ganguly HAS more often than not borne the brunt of them. We can't forget the way he hauled India back from the precipice when he became captain, and it was he who turned India into a strong opponent who really challenges the Australian team. And where is the democracy in the BCCI gagging anybody who speaks out? We need to look at both sides of the matter before embarking on another round of Ganguly-bashing. Let us appreciate his many achievements at least once, rather than criticising him all the time, and let him leave with the respect and dignity he has deserved all these years.

after the amount of left handed compliments dhoni has consistently given the seniors, i see nothing wrong with ganguly getting his own back. true, he mite have waited till the end of the series, but i can empathize with the man. how long can you stand a trial by fire everytime you step out to bat, even after the kind of year ganguly has had?

To all those unabashed Ganguly fans-Nobody has ever questioned Ganguly's contribution to Indian cricket,primarily infusing it with self-belief like never before.But there is no denying his egoistic nature or his tendency for self-preservation.His outburst now, as well as during the Greg Chappell saga,Nagpur against Aus,Paksitan series in 2004-05, constant attempts to keep out Kumble-Bhajji is a life-long sycophant;who else would back such a mediocre spinner(someone please look up his stats outside India)-shows how much respect he has for the game and for his team-mates.It shows a clear streak of putting oneself above everything else.For this reason alone Ganguly should have been dropped permanently after the Chappell episode.Once bitten,twice shy-he should never have anything to do with Indian cricket ever.God knows how long he will carry various grudges.The "one bad series" comment was hysterical.He has been pathetic in several series before,as his season by season avg would reveal.

By the way, I like your articles very much.You are one of the few level-headed writers around,able to look beyond parochialsim, nationalism (and all other 'isms') and criticize or appreciate with equanimity.And I loved your description of Ganguly as the Brahma and Shiva of Team spirit.

To Arindam,if you know Ganguly,you can be sure that he uttered these comments and probably more.Just wait for his autobiography and you will know.A man who can go public directly about a coach can surely do so against team-mates in a "discreet" manner.

That Ganguly is to retire after a long and illustrious career is sad. But his outburst is unforgiveable.And for this, his exit is going to be ignominious.He should have retired gracefully before this series and he would have escaped the embarrasment of what we saw in the field in Australia's first innings.For India's sake it would be nice to see him score a century. If he fails you can imagine the scorn that will be poured on him.I do not know if he gave this interview on the advice of a confidant: if so his adviser has sevrd him ill.

Uday Mallik

It would have been better if you guys would have confirmed facts by talking with Mr Ganguly. At Ganguly's expense, you guys are trying to achieve self actualization. It is too sad. Better was expected out of some of the readers of this site.
Ganguly deserves a honorable media exit. I would welcome him to media to lend it some pan-India appeal just as he did while he was captain by promoting players from states which earlier had no presence in Indian cricket which was probably limited to a Mumbai, Karnataka & later on Delhi

With apologies to the author : "So much for dignity. Arm-chair critics must be kicking themselves for not checking their ‘sources’ before rushing in to trash an icon. Ganguly has pointedly denied the remarks alleged to him. How we love to cause havoc in Indian Cricket, by twisting things out of context. This is not the first time that the Media bashes Ganguly. Nor will it be the last. Is there a Committee appointed to look into the matter? Do we ignore this code of conduct and condone this outburst, simply because we have columns to fill? Is there some ‘cosy arrangement’ between publisher and columnist? Is there some misplaced thinking that the pen is mightier than the bat ?
The Media reverts to type."

Firstly, it needs to be verified if Ganguly really did make those statements and, if so, who was he referring to???

Ganguly has been a great servant for Indian cricket (and cricket in general) and an excellent captain. He brought the fighting qualities that are prevalent in Indian teams of today (although it may have disappeared somewhat after his captaincy stint) that were not there in the past.

Under Ganguly's captaincy India started winning away from home and became a force to be reckoned with.

To all 'Ganguly-knockers', why would you want to belittle a man who has given so much for the country - taken bouncers from Brett Lee in the head and still comes back to fight for the country.

The selectors pick the Indian team and the Indian public needs to get behind their team and support them all the way - just like they do in Australia!

Ganguly deserves all India's respect and a dignified exit. Let's stop the nonsense...get behind the team and support them to victory!!! :)

Ganguly may or maynot have said whatever that has been written. To what extent it has been magnified by the media is the big question.

Anyways, Thanks to Sourav Ganguly, the cricketing world now see an India team ready for a battle on or off (I mean the press meets) the field.

And even now, Ganguly proves you wrong. To those people who said Ganguly should not be picked in this series, I wonder, what would have happened today?

Ganguly-haters will never admire the raw determination, grit, resilence or even the ambition which some people mistake as arrogance. But anyway, take his century out of today's context and India wouldn't have scored more than 350.

Rubbish!!! this is how stars are treated in indian cricket. If you speak the truth out...people shout at you. But all the long whatever Ganguly has faced..if you want to term it as correct then you just know how to criticise a person.Why sholdn't he speak his heart out..after all he has always been at the receiving end...whether it be the selection of Bhajji,Zak,Yuvi,Kaif,Viru or Dravid..or be it the inclusion of Srinath in the WC03 squad...YOu people just have to shout at him and thats why you do that...and please for Gods sake do not even compare Dhoni to Ganguly...let himm play 100 Test Matches...300 Odis..let him score 10000 Odi runs...let him score the second highest number of Odi Hundreds...then you can perhaps compare...and fielding!! mate ...even Dhoni and Dravid had dropped catches that had cost us a match...so why poit to DADA...just because he speaks is heart out against the wrongdoings of the board haters GO TO HELL WE DON'T CARE ABT WHATEVER YOU PEOPLE BARK..DADA RULES!!!

some time good players make good captain, some time captain make some players good. ganguly was blessed with good players . can any one show his one strategy by witch we won. dhony strategy is for better than him

Dhoni has just started, and he has inherited Ganguly's team. It remains to be seen how well he does. You know the fun part? On one hand, fans like you would say Ganguly was lucky because he had better players, and then you would shout for the exit of those same better players! Get your point right dude!