Happiness unabated at Ganguly household

Since Thursday night, the Ganguly residence at 2/6, Biren Roy road in Behala in south Kolkata has been flooded with telephone calls and congratulatory messages. Other than that, bouquets have also been sent by a number of well-wishers. On Thursday, Ganguly's mother Nirupa Ganguly watched the entire proceedings on television. "I just prayed to God to see the Indian team through to victory. I could understand the tension that my son was going through," she said. Immediately after the victory, she distributed sweets amongst all the members of the family.

Meanwhile, Ganguly's father Chandidas said, "It was a great relief when the match came to an end. In fact the tension was such that I couldn't leave the television for a single moment. The entire day, I sat at office and watched the match on television." When asked to comment on the bad patch that Sourav has been passing through, his father remarked, "It happens in the career of every batsman. I am sure that he will overcome it in the near future."

However, Sourav's brother Snehasish was critical of his batting. "He will not be able to get runs in Test matches unless he does some serious rethinking. He is batting without any footwork. In the onedayers he can survive simply because there are very few fielders close to the bat. However, in the Tests, fast bowlers will always bowl to him with a strong slip cordon and get him out." Snehasis incidentally had played first class cricket for some years and currently is a member of the State selection committee. Snehasis also added that Sourav should also learn to accept criticism. "When somebody is a public figure, criticism is bound to take place. You cannot avoid it. And if you fail to get runs under your belt, it will intensify. The best is to ignore it."

The entire locality around the Ganguly residence is full of pictures of Harbhajan Singh, VVS Laxman, Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar. Along with Ganguly's, all the pictures have been garlanded. Juke boxes are blaring out a cacophony of Hindi songs. The celebrations are all set to continue till the beginning of the one day series.