Sourav on the ball - Star spectator at football film shoot

Date : 4/27/10

He started out as a promising footballer idolising the likes of Surajit Sengupta till he began caressing the cricket ball through the covers and then went on to become the most successful captain of Team India.

IPL 3 over and done with, Sourav Ganguly on Monday turned back the clock and turned up to watch a slice of soccer action being played out for the cameras.

Tollygunge Club is where Egaro, a Bengali film on Mohun Bagan’s historic IFA Shield win over East Yorkshire in 1911, was being shot and that’s where the Kolkata Knight Riders skipper stepped out of his BMW around 4pm.

Dressed in a striped tee, denims and casual flip flops, he was in no mood to talk cricket. But when Metrokicked off with soccer, he was happy to play ball. “Every Bengali kicks a football.... I have watched a lot of matches at the Mohun Bagan ground. They used to start from 4pm and I would go straight from school. My father (Chandi Ganguly) had a life membership card which I would use,” smiled Sourav, a can of cola in hand.

So, who were his favourite footballers on the Maidan? “Loads of them…Surajit Sengupta, (late) Krishanu Dey, Prasun Banerjee...” And in world soccer? “Maradona.”

What brought Sourav to the Egaro shoot was the presence of producer Anilava Chatterjee, one of the men behind Dadagiri Unlimited, the superhit game show hosted by Bengal’s favourite sportsman.

As he mingled with the cast — that includes thespian Soumitra Chatterjee’s 19-year-old grandson Ranadip Basu — and director Arun Roy, the boy from Behala wanted to know: “1911 shaley ki footballerder khali paye khelte hoto (Did the footballers play barefoot in 1911)?”

The 37-year-old was on firmer footing when he finally did face a few deliveries on cricket. Would he, like Sachin Tendulkar, play IPL 4? “Yes, yes, of course. I will play for another two years,” he stressed. And in KKR colours? “It will depend on the auction rules. But hopefully it will be KKR,” smiled Sourav.

Finally, what about the Lalit Modi mess? “I am not a part of it,” was the dead-bat reply.

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John awaits Sourav nod

Date : 4/26/10

Calcutta: If Sourav Ganguly gives the thumbs up, John Wright will suggest to New Zealand’s Southern Institute of Technology (SIT) that a scholarship be offered, with both their names, to a youngster from this city.

“Obviously, Sourav has to agree... If he does, I’ll be only too happy to suggest that SIT institutes a Calcutta-specific scholarship... That would be a wonderful way to continue an association,” Wright told The Telegraph on Saturday.

Wright (a former New Zealand captain and India coach) is a brand ambassador for SIT, which has its main campus in Invercargill. It has already committed itself to handing out five scholarships, in Wright’s name, to Indians.

Should there be one exclusively for the city, then it would be scholarship No.6.

Wright and Sourav, India’s most successful Test captain, formed an excellent partnership, from November 2000 till April 2005, and continue to be on “very good terms.”

“Hopefully, I’ll be meeting Sourav tomorrow (Sunday)... It will be nice to catch up with him once again,” Wright pointed out, after a SIT promotional.

Each scholarship is worth NZ $ 14,000-18,000. Accommodation and food isn't covered, though.

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Dada 2nd most popular, just after Sachin ..!!

Date : 4/22/10

NEW DELHI : Sachin Tendulkar emerged as the most searched Indian cricketer, followed by Sourav Ganguly among the players in the third edition of Indian Premier League.

Google India, announced its second IPL Zeitgeist for 2010 - an insight into the most searched teams and players during the third season of the Indian Premier League.

Rajasthan Royals skipper Shane Warne continued to be the most searched international player at the IPL, for the second year running.

Conspicuous by their absence were popular names such as MS Dhoni, Virender Sehwag and 'the Fake IPL Player', who moved off the top 10 this year. Adam Gilchrist, Ryan Harris and Praveen Kumar made their debut on the list at number 7, 8 and 9 respectively.

Among the teams, Deccan Chargers ousted the Mumbai Indians from the top slot, who emerged as a close second. Chennai Super Kings rounded up the top three teams, as Kolkata Knight Riders dropped to number 4 this year.

'Super Over' emerged as the most searched IPL related query on YouTube followed by Chennai Super Kings. Yusuf Pathan, who did not make it to the IPL Zeitgeist on Google Search, emerged as the most searched player on YouTube.

To compile the 2010 IPL Zeitgeist, Google studied the aggregation of queries pertaining to IPL that people typed into Google search during the IPL season 3. We used data from multiple sources, including Insights for Search, Google Trends and internal data tools. We also filtered out spam and repeat queries to arrive to a list which captured the essence of the series. All of the search queries we studied are anonymous - no personal information was used.

The list:

1. Sachin Tendulkar
2. Sourav Ganguly
3. Shane Warne
4. Yuvraj Singh
5. Rahul Dravid
6. Brett Lee
7. Adam Gilchrist
8. Ryan Harris
9. Praveen Kumar
10. Harbhajan Singh

SOURCE : http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/iplarticleshow/5844515.cms

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Sourav happy to prove critics wrong

Date : 4/19/10

KOLKATA : Sourav Ganguly has answered critics innumerable times with sterling displays on the field. And he'll do it again. Every time he has been perceived to be struggling, he has hit back, mostly with his bat and on a few occasions with words.

On Saturday, he decided to use both. After his match-winning unbeaten 50-ball 75 against the Rajasthan Royals, the Kolkata Knight Riders skipper fired a salvo at the media: "A few people are trying to pull me down," he said.

He refused to elaborate, but went on to add that he continues to play because he feels he is good enough. "This is what I had said a week ago and I am saying the same thing now. I feel I have been good enough. I have worked hard for 6-7 months on my fitness and I am honest with my training," Ganguly said, perhaps trying to send a message to critics. With the ball not coming on to the bat, the going was always going to be difficult, despite the small target. "The ball was stopping and turning, but then we played some outstanding cricket," he explained the rationale behind KKR's cautious approach after losing McCullum.

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Dav Whatmore: Emotions are understandable... - Captain Sourav’s post-match blast is the talking point

Date : 4/12/10

Bangalore/Calcutta : The talking point on Sunday wasn’t the Kings XI Punjab’s upset win over the Delhi DareDevils, but Sourav Ganguly’s blast after the Kolkata Knight Riders got slain in Bangalore.

The Bofors-like treatment may either spur the Knights on to produce their best cricket, against the Chennai SuperKings, on Tuesday, or send morale crashing further.

It’s rare for top guns to give their players such a tongue lashing in public, but one can appreciate Sourav’s frustration. To be beaten black-and-blue after 100 for one in the 11th over would be difficult for most captains to accept.

Certainly not one whose passion is never concealed.

“We suffered a big loss (by seven wickets, with almost three overs to spare)... Some emotions were shown, which is perfectly understandable,” the Knights’ coach, Dav Whatmore, told The Telegraph.

Speaking before leaving for Chennai, he added: “It’s not a blame game (situation)... The way forward is to improve in the areas we didn’t do well against the Royal Challengers Bangalore...

“We should definitely have got more than 160 for nine... We ought to have bowled much better and, yes, been far better in the field, too. Having said all that, Bangalore played very well.”

Whatmore emphasised that his bowlers needed to bowl “enough good balls.” As he put it: “Good balls may get hit, that has to be understood... The point, really, is bowling a high percentage of good balls... We just didn’t do that...”

Ashok Dinda was again impressive, but everybody else got clobbered. Ishant Sharma and Ajantha Mendis were the biggest culprits.

Clearly, their profligacy left Sourav incensed, prompting him to declare: “I can talk, lift them up, but they need to lift themselves.”

That bit was rather restrained. What wasn’t went as follows: “We played good cricket for the first 10 overs, but for the next 30 (actually 27.1), were absolutely rubbish... If we continue this way, then we don’t deserve to be in the semi-finals...”

To entertain hopes of making that stage in IPL III, the Knights have to win all the three matches which remain. “Well, yes, it has got tougher,” Whatmore acknowledged.

What’s perplexing is that a place isn’t there for Shane Bond in every match. Having invested so much — $750,000 being the publicised amount — the franchise should, ideally, be looking to squeeze every cent out of him.

Also, the quality of the domestic players is being questioned for the umpteenth time.

The role of Wasim Akram, the bowling coach-cum-mentor, too, is under the scanner in some quarters. It wasn’t many days ago that the bowlers failed to defend even 200 and, on Saturday, came the appalling show in Bangalore.

To be fair to Akram, he can’t bowl for the Ishants.

Bought for $950,000 in the first auction, in 2008, Ishant is yet to script a match-winning performance. Indeed, in 31 appearances over three seasons, the quick has managed no more than 25 wickets.

Once the hottest property among new-ball bowlers, Ishant is today sans all confidence.

The Royal Challengers, by the way, were relieved they didn’t have to chase, say, 181. A senior pro explained: “Twenty more may not look that many, but it changes the mood in the dressing room... Believe me, it’s a significant jump in a T20 match.”

While on the Royal Challengers, Ranganath Vinay Kumar walked away with the MoM award and Robin Uthappa truly sizzled, but no less a hero was the utterly classy Rahul Dravid.

No surprise, then, that Dravid was besieged for autographs and photographs during a very late meal, with a couple of friends from Calcutta, at the ITC Royal Gardenia’s Cubbon Pavilion.

“T20 is to be enjoyed,” Dravid pointed out, tucking into an Indonesian preparation. A packed house at the Chinnaswamy certainly did.

Dravid, incidentally, clarified that he isn’t on Twitter. Somebody, therefore, is misusing his name.

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