YES, DADA IS BACK WITH TEAM INDIA.

If the buzz (very strong, if I may add) around BCCI’s new Cricket Advisory Committee making some major announcements before India’s tour of Bangladesh (June 6th), is to be believed, Sourav Ganguly is set to return in the Indian cricketing circuit very soon. Come this cricketing season, Ganguly can have a ‘prominent’ role to play in the scheme of things and can return to the Indian dressing room as the Team Director or the High Performance Manager.And the mandate for the aggressive former captain will be very clear:

To boost Team India’s overseas performance at any cost.

Precisely why I am jubilant and worried, in equal measures.

In a perfect world, Sourav Ganguly, the second most successful captain of India in all formats of the game, taking charge of the Indian team as the Director seems like a naturally logical and progressive step. But unfortunately, cricket is not a perfect game nor is the dressing room politics.

There is no denying the fact that Sourav Ganguly has an eye for talent and transformed India into a young, hungry and confident unit which learnt how to win games away from home, guided by the aggression of their captain. Captaincy came naturally to Ganguly and with the support of a few stalwarts (Sachin, Dravid, Laxman and Kumble), the prince of Bengal built his own kingdom out of unknown players.

However, managing a team full of superstars is a different ball game altogether.

The current Indian outfit is a myriad of players who are superstars in their own right. While some star players are vying for a comeback, the others are busy saving their spots in the team. In fact, even the bench strength of the Indian team consist of stars recovering from injuries or form.

So, what is a fallen superstar of yesteryear supposed to do in order to bring the scattered pieces together and complete the jigsaw?

Apply all the methods in his textbook, we’d say.

Knowing Dada, he’s not the one to bow down to challenges and certainly not the one to let people come in the way of his methods.

And knowing the current Indian Test captain, he won’t buckle either.

Virat Kohli is an equally, if not more, aggressive, assertive and dominating cricketer who plays to his own will and leads his IPL side the same way too.

With no MS Dhoni around, Indian Test team will be left with two volatile leaders trying to lead the side in their own respective ways.

And this could well become a serious problem for the BCCI. Not known to be very fond of following rules, Kohli has earned the reputation of the spoilt brat of the Indian cricket.

BCCI’s lenient behaviour towards Kohli can also be understood by the fact that the present team manager, Ravi Shastri, keeps an evident soft spot for the Indian Test Captain.

However, Ganguly’s presence in the dressing room would change a lot things.

Ganguly returns to the team with a point to prove and that is only possible by getting the team together and making over seas wins possible.

Just to set the context right, the ghosts of the Chappel-Ganguly rivalry and the ugly spat which followed is still fresh in the mind of every cricket lover. And it’s the thought of two contrasting and electric personalities coming head to head yet again, which leaves you feeling a little jittery.

Well, the duo might not necessarily come head-to-head, at least we wish they don’t, but there is a question mark which is certainly looming large over the Indian cricket right now:

By bringing Sourav Ganguly and Virat Kohli to the top at the same time, isn’t BCCI bringing the match stick too close to the fire?

Let us know what you think!