Champions Trophy: The Michael Atherton-Sourav Ganguly banter that dug out old graves
The thing about provocativeness and intimidation is that anything can be hidden under its guise. If you mix the typical English etiquette into it, you’d realize that subtlety isn't just the art of the humble, but also of the cunning.
England have had a history of colonization. And that is not just limited to territories outside their own realms, but also includes earmarked places inside their boundaries.
Thus, when Michael Atherton referred to Sourav Ganguly's move of taking off his India jersey and waving it from the Lord's balcony in 2002 as the 'worst side he'd seen at the home of cricket,' he was killing two birds with one arrow.
One, he was maintaining the English tradition of glorifying the cricket venue that has, apart from its history, nothing strikingly abundant to be described as the ‘Eden.’ And two, perhaps in a rush of adrenaline, now that England are through to the semi-final, he was trying to dig out buried graves and make an issue out of nothing.
For the uninitiated, Ganguly had famously removed off his Indian jersey and waved it standing at the Lord’s balcony after India had defeated England in the final of the 2002 tri-series as a gesture of celebration.
The Indianness attached to the gesture was not taken too kindly by the English, perhaps not so much because one of their erstwhile colonies had left behind an indelible mark on their ‘home’ of cricket but because it was in response to what one of their lads had done back in India the previous year.
On England’s 2001 tour to India, Andrew Flintoff – the man who was the reason behind the initiation of such a banter – had done what Ganguly did a year later. Flintoff and removed his jersey after England’s win in the final at the Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai, and had run around bare-chested as a symbol of their dominance over the hosts.
Flintoff’s presence sparks a deja vu
Flintoff was present at the ground to watch the game between India and Sri Lanka and when the cameras brought him on the big screen, Atherton was quick to sneak in a cheeky reminder to his fellow commentator.
“Flintoff in the ground. Don't take off your shirt and start waving it around, Sourav. He took off his shirt once & forced you to do do it at Lord's. One of the worst sights at home of cricket,” the Englishman said.
It would do well to remind what Sunil Gavaskar – who has been missed only by the most loyal of his fans this tournament – had opined about England’s perceived dislike for the celebration that has become a folklore in Indian cricket galleries.
Gavaskar had once said that if Lord’s is England’s home of cricket, the Wankhede is India’s. He didn’t flinch from speaking out that one of the English lads had the audacity to run around half-naked on the cricket field, and Ganguly’s heroics at the balcony was only a befitting response.
Ganguly responded to Atherton’s jibe by questioning, “You think so?”
That was the end of it there, and although an Indian fan would have expected a reply from the man who is well-known for his replies on air, Ganguly let the issue pass and focus on the game.
Ganguly, even by the longest stretches of the imagination, isn’t the one to back down from a sledge. He had, rather famously, quietened Atherton’s fellow commentator and former England captain Nasser Hussain during India’s 2014 tour to England.
Hussain, questioning India’s football abilities had taken a sly dig at the Indian by saying, “When do we expect India to win a FIFA World Cup?”
The 2014 FIFA World Cup was around the corner and England’s participation and their rich football history was something that Hussain tried to leverage. Ganguly came back with a response that would have made even an English fan stand up and acknowledge.
The Indian replied, “If India had played football for over a hundred years, we would have certainly won a World Cup.”
The jibe was hilarious and showed Hussain and England the mirror by stating the obvious. For all their legacy and the reputation of them being the inventors of the game of cricket, they are yet to win a 50-over World Cup.
The banter could be called just that, but hidden under its guise is perhaps the English way of digging out long-buried graves and meddling with the history. They haven’t had a great history with many of their colonies and chances are that they aren’t in a mood to change it.