Quiet man Inzamam versus Mr. Motivator Ganguly in India-Pakistan series by AFP

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Player:	Inzamam-ul-Haq, SC Ganguly
Event:	Pakistan in India 2004/05

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DateLine: 3rd March 2005

 

When India captain Sourav Ganguly bared his chest at Lord's to celebrate his team's rare win against England in the NatWest Trophy one-day final in 2002, the purists frowned.

 

His unassuming Pakistani counterpart Inzamam-ul-Haq has never been known for betraying emotions in public, his body language often staying the same in both defeat and victory.

 

The rival skippers for the upcoming Test series starting in Mohali on March 8 are as different as chalk and cheese. Inzamam is an examplar and Ganguly is a motivator.

 

Ganguly's shirt-waving act at Lord's was criticised by many, including former India skipper Kapil Dev, who believed it did not befit the stature of an international captain.

 

But it was a spontaneous reaction from Ganguly, who likes wearing his heart on his sleeve. When he took off his shirt and waved it vigorously in the air, he did not know his action would spark such a heated debate.

 

That was his way of reacting to a grand occasion as his team had successfully chased a massive 326-run target to savour one of the best moments in the history of Indian one-day cricket.

 

Unlike Inzamam, Ganguly is not the best batsman of his team, coming down the pecking order behind such luminaries as Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid. But his role as a motivator should not be underestimated.

 

Ganguly is the most successful Indian Test captain, having led his team to 18 wins in 44 matches since taking over from Tendulkar in 2000. India have lost just one home Test series under his captaincy, against Australia earlier this season.

 

The 32-year-old took over the captaincy in troubled times during the match-fixing scandal and succeeded in making India a team to be feared.

 

Ganguly has been credited with backing youngsters passing through a lean patch. And he has been proved right as batsman Yuvraj Singh, off-spinner Harbhajan Singh and paceman Zaheer Khan all benefited from his encouragement.

 

His major contribution is that India have now learnt to win away from home. A 1-1 draw in Australia last year was India's best performance under his leadership.

 

The Ganguly-led India are also a force to reckon with in one-dayers, sharing the rain-hit Champions Trophy in Sri Lanka in 2002 before reaching the World Cup final in South Africa the following year.

 

Inzamam, being the best and more experienced batsman of his team, is always expected to lead from the front.

 

He sometimes may not appear to be as much involved in the game as his Indian counterpart, but he cannot afford to fail with the bat in a side thin on experience.

 

Inzamam is no Imran Khan, a former captain who transformed Pakistan into a fighting unit with the sheer force of his personality and performances. Imran was strong enough to have a major say in almost all things concerning his team.

 

Inzamam has often being accused of being "soft", but is second to none when it comes to setting an example with his own performance.

 

He is Pakistan's leading run-getter in both forms of the game, having scored 7,052 in 97 Tests and 10,631 runs in 336 one-dayers.

 

Inzamam is also different from Ganguly in that he has been leading a seemingly divided team, at least until the arrival of celebrated English coach Bob Woolmer.

 

Ganguly and Inzamam, however, both perform under the pressure of fans' expectations. Neither can afford defeat over the next month.

(Article: Copyright © 2005 AFP)