A Public Apology To Sourav Ganguly
I sincerely hope this letter finds you in the best health and spirit - after the series you have just played in I am sure you're health has never seemed better. I write this letter with great joy and in anticipation of an extremely exciting and successful future. For the Indian cricket team that is, with your exalted self representing a vital cog in a well-oiled machine.
I have to openly admit that I was the leader of the non-believers. We believed that you had exceeded your welcome and that it was time for you to retire with grace and dignity intact. I wrote many an article to this effect and firmly believed in what I wrote.
Although I openly wished for the opposite, I did not even pretend to harbour any hope of you having the gumption and/or the right mindset to make a successful comeback to international cricket. It is true, in fact, that I was of the firm opinion that a place in the final XI would be wasted on you and should be given to one many years younger than your courageous self. That's it, I actually underestimated your courage.
However, after your deeds in South Africa and the manner in which you have stood atop the batting mountain in the recently concluded ODI series, I must say I am starting to become a true believer again. Words cannot describe the immense rush of pleasure that invaded my body when I witnessed you unleash those drives through point and cover. It felt like my right hand had been stitched back on to my torso after a horrible accident.
I am not one that gets easily carried away by the odd performance here and there. However, neither am I one to begrudge one credit when it is truly deserved. You have breathed a huge breath of fresh air back into Team India. By all accounts, your time off has given you a sense of perspective that affords you the freedom to enthrall us once again with your wondrous wares. For this I thank the Hands above who have prepared this script, in order to teach us all not to take anything in life for granted.
Although I realise that the sternest challenges lie in wait for your imminent arrival and not even you can promise us a successful and happy ending (not that we expect that of you), I would like to take this opportunity to apolgise for my many lapses in judgment when it came to discussing your future. I would also like to thank you for showing the world what can be achieved through a combination of an open mind and hard work, stirred with a generous splash of pure and unadulterated courage.
Dada, I salute you and all that you have re-proven yourself to be. I only hope and pray that the force is with you long enough (at the very least) for you to help your team mates in allowing us to call our nation champions of the cricketing world once again.
Yours,
Your biggest fan - The Enigma
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