Sourav and a ThreeYear Jinx

Sourav Ganguly cannot be kept out of the news or blogs such as this. The left hander, making his comeback, fought his way to a gritty 51 in the first test, was back to his own unconvincing self in the second with a blob and an extremely streaky 26, and made most of a featherbed with a chancy 66 in the third.

So, two fifties will go down as a decent enough performance, and his legions of not too rational followers, especially in the vernacular media, are already asking questions about the rationale behind his unceremonious omission in 2005.

However, while even the most diehard of his fan following will agree that the few months in domestic cricket has really made him come back more determined, and somewhat more assured against pace bowling, these sorts of debates generally do not have any result with unreason and passion holding fort over stark facts.

However, it is definitely true that the Indian middle order has been bolstered with a better batsman in Ganguly, and he seems more solid than he ever has (barring the strange second innings at Durban). That is good news for the Indian team.
And whether or not that is a result of his being dropped may still be debatable, but what is not is a piece of awesome statistic.

In this series, Sourav Ganguly ends up scoring two half centuries. Barring the 2004-5 series against Bangladesh - where the maharaja over Minnows was in his element - the last time Sourav did happen to have two fifty plus scores in a series was way back in 2003, against Australia. And since 2000, he has scored two fifties in a series only four times, which includes one series against Bangladesh and a five test series against the west indies where he did manage two in 9 innings.

Startling fact that!!!
And, if someone failed to score two fifties in a series regularly for six years, was he not in line for unceremonious exclusion? Food for thought.