Ganguly's so-called comeback

All the talk about Ganguly returning to form, finding his touch again and being back in the reckoning for captaincy has turned out to be overly optimistic, unreasonably wishul and, going by today's duck, myopic. A half century under bowler-friendly conditions in his comeback innings and a 20 odd in the next had everyone, including one kid-faced, over eager to fill Sidhu's boots as NDTV's main cricket expert, Ajay Jadeja jump the gun and call for Sourav to be reinstated as captain. I conceed that he did show grit in the first test, infact Ganguly's performance partly succeeded in embarrasing Greg Chappel as Greg always wanted Ganguly and Laxman out. True, the debacle in the one-dayers did call for experience in the team and Mr.Vengsarkar and his band did the right thing by selecting Laxman and Ganguly, but lets face it, we all know that Ganguly's selection was more due to public pressure than his performance for Bengal. Him being appointed captain on the basis of one good match will not only disturb Greg's plans but also spell doom for our chances in the upcoming world-cup. The media, which wheted the fans's appetite, kept a close eye on Ganguly the moment he landed in S.Africa. His performance in his first match (the warmup game at Potchofestrom) was keenly observed by fans back home. His 83 confirmed the belief that experienced players are THE way to go. Everyone conveniently ignored the fact that he was dropped when on 20 odd and convinced themselves that Ganguly's knocks were a sure-shot sign of his return to form. The old cliche "Form is temporary but class is permanent" was on everybody lips. Now, as is my prediction, we all will once again be overcome with a sense of Deja vu and witness how Ganguly's scores spiral downward. Lets be at our objective best for a moment and ask: Is Ganguly merely out of form or has he lost it altogether, as cricketers do when they hang their boots?