Imran Khan : Playboy to Potential Prime Minister

Playboy to Potential Prime Minister, Westernized to Ultra-Orthodox, Eternal bachelor to husband of ex-wives, Once a dear friend of India to the one working round the clock to make a point against it,  is all that makes one and only Imran Khan Niyazi.

The guy is finally getting himself ready into Prime Ministerial home and fulfilling his long cherished desire to lead his own country.

Imran was all about style, attitude and the one who always left his rivalry the moment he left the playing strip. Remember the camaraderie he had with his Indian peers whenever India Pakistan played against each other or came across. Cinthol (advertisement) was a big bonding with the man for many of cricket fans across India. He also showed his human side when he built Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital & Research Centre in memory of his mother. His umpteen attempts to have affairs with Indian actresses gave Indian media enough spice to go gaga over this cheerful handsome man from the world of cricket. All this while his fierce all-round skills and leadership qualities made world accept him as one of the all-time greats to grace the game.

Records in galore, glory with esteem and icing on the cake with 1992 Cricket World Cup made Imran one of the most dashing and respected Cricket Icons the world over.

Imran true to himslef was living his life in his own way till shocking marriage to Jemima Goldsmith, a young girl almost half of his age and people treated it as a usual Imran playboy stuff expecting it to be a short lived one.

No one had expected his plunge into politics and then began his struggles to make his political career work and not let his marriage fail.As expected, he was not good at both of them. A liberal visionary started to get more orthodox and hardline approach started pipping in. Neither the marriages worked nor the political career took off.

Imran Khan is true story what an ambition can lead a person to! A person who was least bothered about his lifestyle making it a point all the while to woo people and showcase himself as one amongst them. A person who loved to be in good books of India ready to talk relentlessly against it for his own political gains. A person who was forward looking is more than willing to take his own country back.

In short, politics wherever it happens makes a person compromise his own principles, let’s go the path he/she had chosen to, grab and sustain the power through whatsoever means it comes through and live in a world which gives outer periphery of success irrespective of what he/she as an individual wishes to .

Whatsoever, it would have brought bigger cherish to cricket fans the world over, had Imran continued with cricket and worked for betterment of the game rather than getting entangled in game of politics and take up a job which he himself had never imagined to and for sure which would have taken away lots of his fan following.

Nonetheless, as a true cricket fan and an Indian patriot , hope to see Imran who changed the way umpiring happened in Pakistan by making a way for neutral umpires shall use the same principles in his tenure as Pakistan Prime Minister.

P.S. This blog is just looking back at a cricketer’s life and the journey which has evolved a long way. It does not intend to make any political statement or analyse it.

- Jayawant

Saurav Ganguly : Birthday wishes to Dada with an attitude !

Dada turning 46? Time passes so quickly and a boy who didn’t want to carry drinks to the ground is now a living legend turning another leaf to move towards completing a real life half century. 

Doesn’t sound realistic but such has been the aura of Saurav Ganguly that one would always correlate him with youth, authority, attitude and the one who gave self-esteem and confidence of win to Indian cricket.

Post Kapil and Gavaskar era, Indian cricket was in safe hands but that ‘Dekh Loonga’ attitude was always missing. The NatWest Finals at Lords changed the definition and that taking off his shirt (though controversial) in Lords balcony was probably the most defining moment of Indian Cricket. It altered the EGO of the dressing rooms forever and told the world who was the ‘BOSS’ of the game.

Being thrown out of the team was Ganguly’s usual story once after making his ODI debut and then taking up his biggest survival bid to come back to Indian team after Greg Chappel debacle and controversy.

A man who was more known for ‘I am Ganguly’ tag to become one of the most successful captains of the game, matching GOD and redefining meaning of opening batsman in ODIs, innovating and experimenting with Dravid as a Keeper, grooming youngsters and at the same time nurturing and taking along BIG5 with the best of camaraderie and making a place in the history of the game as India’s all time answer to David Gower to become GOD of offside was no less an achievement for the Prince of Kolkata.

World Cup 2011 was all the way MSD and SRT show but seeds of the championship were sown in 2003 by Dada and he almost made it to podium just to fail at last hurdle against a captain who probably was one of the most aggressive amongst rest of all Australians, Ponting.

For statistics purpose, player who was not fit for Test cricket, scored century at Lords on debut. One who could never play fast bowling, made a century on bouncy GABBA, a lethargic bowler single handedly demolished Pakistan as a ‘Secret Weapon’ for Sachin in Canada for Sahara Cup or scoring those majestic 239 runs versus Pakistan as India’s most prolific left hander. Can anyone forget all those princely ODI centuries and more than 11000 runs across the globe? Critics kept slamming Ganguly’s technique and feet movement but that elegance on the pitch silenced them and exuberated crowds to their feet at the same time.

Ultimately Maharaj is Maharaj and had he ever looked like a common man, it would have been an underestimation of the Prince Ganguly then. Ganguly was and will always remain a Maharaj(a) for all of us.

Being born to a family with golden spoon doesn’t assure success and all the sweat and hard work on the ground and off the field has made Ganguly what he is today.

Ganguly has already made commentary box, a place of his own. Future looks all set for bigger BCCI or ICC role and who knows it could turn out to be ‘Abki bar Dada Sarkar’ in West Bengal very soon.

Thanks Saurav for passing on that egoistic positivity to the next generation of cricketers making India more aggressive, focused and destined for bigger glory! 

Long live the legend and long live that attitude DADA!!

P.S. The blog is written as mark of respect by a Saurav Ganguly fan and the content is a personal opinion only.

- Jayawant