The Great divide at the Eden Gardens

Not in recent memory that the crowd at the Eden Gardens was torn between central characters: Bengal's very own son Sourav Ganguly and the city-based Kolkata Knight Riders' team and its captain Gautam Gambhir.

The emotional quotient was upped by many folds because this was Ganguly's “home coming.” On top of that, Sahara's Pune Warriors India team not only welcomed him with open arms but gave him all the love and care he deserved as an ageing cricket player.

On Saturday the Eden Gardens' crowd showed to the world how much it loved Dada with the kind of vocal support rarely given to any visiting team.

Such was the response for Ganguly at “home,” whose first faceoff as part of the Pune Warriors India against Knight Riders failed last year at the D.Y. Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai. But the “home coming” as the leader of the pack almost proved to be a great success till Dada himself wasted it with an extravagant shot!

To put it mildly, Ganguly shot himself with Gambhir being a mere spectator on the field and the franchise's principal owner Shah Rukh Khan looking forlorn on the terrace.

All the hype that surrounded the match, many felt, was the handiwork of ever demanding media. The logic is simple: KKR was on a roll upward and PWI was also on a roll – but downward. Ganguly and PWI had lost four matches in a row before this match. The fifth defeat has put the team out of reckoning for a berth in the knockout phase unless a miracle brings the team back into contention by quirk of fate.

With due respect to the Australian captain Michael Clarke and other team members, had there been no Ganguly in the PWI ranks, this match would have been one more game played at the beautiful Eden Gardens with the crowd backing the home team, KKR.

The Eden crowd is known to take sides. In 1984 the Eden Gardens erupted in unison to support another great son of Indian cricket, Kapil Dev. The classy all-rounder was dropped for the Test match against England. The emotional upheaval of the crowd was huge. “No Kapil, No Test” screamed posters inside and outside the Stadium.

Kolkata spectators have their own way of expressing their displeasure with a huge roar. Legends of the game have gone on record saying a cricket player's life is incomplete without playing a match at the Eden Gardens. Old timers recall how the Eden spectators can put the umpires in great discomfort. Some of the veterans who have been watching matches at the Eden Gardens said it could be an unnerving experience for the white-coated gentleman in the middle when one lakh plus appeal with the bowler!

More recently, in 2005, the National selectors dropped Ganguly from the Indian team and made Rahul Dravid the captain. India came to the Eden Gardens to play the fourth One-Day International against South Africa in November and was thrashed by 10 wickets.

A goodly turnout watched the miserable defeat of India and applauded the South Africans lustily for inflicting the defeat. It was apparently a clear case of putting an individual before the country.

What happened on Saturday was in complete contrast to the past incidents of crowd rooting for one or the other. There was never a divide as seen on Saturday at the Eden Gardens.

Hopefully, the divide should disappear after the final approval of the crowd went to KKR, which wasted no time in doing the lap of honour.

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