Sachin Tendulkar was Indias Worst Captain.
He was beaten at home by a South African Outfit whose best spinner was Nicky Boje (Average 43.06) by 2 - 0
He led India to a Whitewash in Australia 3–0
It is what led to the Ganguly Era that lasted for the next 5 years and transformed Indian Cricket
Not every great player is a good captain. Sure you have Bradman or Richards or Greg Chappell but you also have Mike Brearley, Stephen Fleming, Arjuna Ranatunga, Hansie Cronje who were not the best players of their teams but were excellent Captains.
What is amazing about Ganguly was not just that he was thrown in at the deep end but also that he inherited a very mediocre team.
His earliest team included
Sadagopan Ramesh a Good Batsman in India but hopeless outside India,
Nayan Mongia - a Great Wicketkeeper but a liability as a batsman in a fast changing world,
Sunil Joshi - a Middling Spinner at best and a Below Par Batsman,
VVS Laxman - a Batsman whose potential had not yet been explored and was still shunting between Opener and Middle order,
Venkatesh Prasad - A Good ODI Bowler but seriously below Par for Test Cricket despite his early prowesses in 1996
Ajit Agarkar - again a Fast good ODI bowler but hopeless in Tests due to his tendency to be injured and his ability to bowl only a few good overs before straying
And he inherited a Team whose Coach was Kapil Dev - a Great Player but whose idea of Coaching included making Modi Like Speeches and believing a great speech could win matches.
Ganguly had three core beliefs
- He believed if Pakistan can have so many quality pacers, why cant India with a larger population and more money?
- He believed Test and ODI players had to start becoming separate and a Good Test Player could not automatically play ODIs and vice versa. He began Specialization in ODIs and Tests.
- He believed that Preparing Turning Tracks in India was counter productive and demanded competitive pitches to play cricket. The Nagpur Pitch of 2004–2005 series was his suggestion. He believed it was the only way Indian batsmen would evolve as would Indian bowlers.
Ganguly was lucky because the BCCI President and Supremo was Jagmohan Dalmiya who shared Gangulys Vision and believed India could not truly become an International Team unless they became more broad minded. He allowed Ganguly to do more than any previous captain including make suggestions to the Selectors and literally force the selectors to pick Gangulys choices.
Ganguly and Dalmiya began their work independently including:-
- A Foreign Coach - A Professional Coach - John Wright and a Professional Medic for the first time in the history of Indian Cricket. No more Butter Chicken or Tandoori Roti during matches. Players had to undergo physio, fitness appraisals and controlled diet thanks to the Physio (Whose name i forgot). Likewise a True Professional John Wright who left Ganguly alone but chipped in with useful tips during overseas games.
- Emphasis on Pace - Young Pacers like Zaheer Khan, VRV Singh, Nehra, RR Bose, Yohannan, Kumaran were handpicked and trained and Ganguly cherry picked the best of the best.
- Faith in Spinners - Unlike the usual game of constantly changing spinners and disturbing their rhythm after just 1 - 2 games, Ganguly kept faith in his spinners. He used Harbhajan Singh and Kumble equally and effectively and rarely used a third spinner even in Indian Pitches. He put a lot of faith in Harbhajan Singh who delivered many times.
- Specialization - He picked Specialists for ODIs like Yuvraj Singh or Mohd Kaif or Nehra while he picked Laxmans No 3 Spot where Laxman would fit perfectly , putting Dravid at No 4, Sachin at No 5 and himself at No 6. This would cost him his average since he was a No. 3 Batsman but now pushed to No 6. He handpicked Sehwag and MS Dhoni.
- No Gentlemans Game - Ganguly was the first Indian Captain who decided not to stand any more nonsense from Angrezi Players or Australian Players. The West Indians, Kiwis and even the South Africans, Sri Lankans were generally polite and friendly ; The Pakistanis loved banter but could take it back; The Australians were the crybabies - they could dish it out but if someone replied - they would cry Racism. Many Previous Captains like Dev or Tendulkar or Azhar ignored the sledging and remained polite but Ganguly refused. He gave it back. He used swear words and introduced a routine that has since strengthened with Kohli.
Conclusion - Sachin was milder than Ganguly, he was more traditional in an administrative sense and followed the Old School of I S Bindra and A C Muthiah, He also was nervous about ordering old team mates at just 21 years of age and often took advise from Azharuddin. Many Older players like Hirwani or Manjrekar often did not heed to his advise believing he was immature as a captain. Only Srinath, Kumble, Dravid, Ramesh and Ganguly followed his words to the letter without questioning anything. Later Tendulkar gave Ganguly the same respect.
Saurav was tougher and Luckier.
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