Goodbye Maharaja!!!!

Lords, 13th July 2002.... every Indian cricket fan was on cloud nine. This picture shows not only Sourav Ganguly's emotions that night but of whole India. It was more than a mere reply to what Flintoff did at Wankhede. Thats Dada...Maharaja...Prince of Kolkata.

"The only man after God on the off side" are the most talked about words about Sourav Ganguly and truly the pleasure his off-drives have given over last 12 years to any and every cricket follower is unmatchable. I take immense pride in being left-hander and very much thankful to the person who first gave me cricket bat and asked me to hold it that way.

So called IT generation...young generation of India has grown up watching fab four batting and I think everybody will agree that it hurts to see the fort Fab-4 built up finally getting dismantled. Along with off-drives Ganguly would always be known for his Captaincy. No one would ever dare to deny him credit for matches India won abroad. Dada's leadership and the best ever middle order in India's history made that possible. Indians were always called Tigers at home and sheeps abroad but Ganguly and his team has surely changed this perception of cricket analysts by winning everywhere around the world.

Nagpur was the last test appearance for Ganguly. In first inning it was very certain till that beauty from Krejza that he will be giving fitting reply to Chappell (who holds unique record for scoring century in debut and in last innning) by scoring century in the last appearance but that was not to happen and he fell short by 15 runs. Today in his last test appearance he got out on zero. Thats what is called fate. Finally, Maharaja thanks for making every Indian proud of your achievements and showcasing world the might of India.

Goodbye Dada....Wish you all the best...