Congratulations, Sourav! You always deserved this. Indians have a short memory, but still you made a tremendous difference. I saw you first in Australia in 1992, and heard stories - so when you walked into the ground in Lords in your maiden test, I was not expecting much. And, you took us to a different height with your batting, yes, your batting - we felt like rediscovering a David Gower in our midst [forgive the comparison - it was a great benchmark then]. I also remember your consistent, all round match winning contributions in Toronto, how agitated we felt when you were left out of the team, and how you lifted the game when you came back. You were fascinating in that game in World Cup in England - all your batting, you as a player - you were so different. And then you made this huge difference as a captain. We almost gave up. We were stained, lost, direction less. Out story was always the same as the one happened yesterday at Dambula - we snatched defeat from the jaws of victory, we gave up too soon, we played politics and not cricket, we did not allow young players to make mistakes, and we had to invent umpires and pitches to keep us winning some matches. You changed all that.
