GANGULY WINS ASIAN CRICKETER AWARD

Former India captain Sourav Ganguly has been adjudged the Asian Cricketer and Asian Batsman of the year for his fighting comeback into the Indian team at the Castrol Asian Cricket Awards here on Friday.Though Ganguly was not present at the ceremony, his wife Dona took the awards on his behalf.The Bengal left-hander also expressed his happiness on receiving the awards in a video taped message.
Sourav Ganguly has shown that with class and experience, age need not be a barrier to success. He had a fantastic year in both Tests and ODIs and it was nice to see his memorable comeback to the India team capped on Friday when he became the first recipient of the Asian Cricketer of the Year Award at the Castrol Asian Cricket Awards function held in Karachi.And on that note Ganguly cannot be faulted for his performances in 2007. It was a great year for him with 1106 runs at 61.44 in Tests and then 1240 runs at 44.28 in ODIs.

Sachin Tendulkar was named the Best ODI batsman while Gautam Gambhir grabbed the honour in Twenty20. Sri Lankan wicket-keeper batsman Kumar Sangakkara took away the best Test Batsman of the year award while compatriot Farveez Maharoof was chosen as the Best ODI Bowler. Pakistan's Umar Gul was named the Best Twenty20 Bowler.Yuvraj Singh was given an special award for hitting six sixes in the Twenty20 World Cup against England.Sri Lankan spin wizard Muttiah Muralitharan, not surprisingly, took away the Best Bowler award.

INTERVIEW WITH DADA

How do you feel losing your place in the ODI's ?

It was a nightmare, really. Losing the one-day place was shattering. You will not believe it but I knew it was coming because I was not judged on cricketing merit. It was terrible.
I felt very bad, very hurt. You obviously feel bad when you lose your place. It was devastating, but a lesson too. Cricket is a great learning experience.

How's it to be without playing cricket ?

Life is not just cricket. The time spent at home was quality time and mattered more than anything else. For almost 12 years, I have been hopping from one country to another, one city to another, catching flights, living out of suitcases.
It made me a better person in many ways. I could handle pressure better, judge success and failure in the right perspective. My perspective towards life changed. I would say that it was the most important phase of my career and helped me get my confidence back.

Is Fitness the reason for your ommision from ODI Team ?

Fitness? What is fitness? If I was not fit, I would not have survived this long. I have worked hard and survived by scoring runs and taking wickets. I did it the hard way, and with support from my fans.


Your Experience as stint of Indian skipper and losing that position ?

It was a huge honour to lead India but when I lost my captaincy, it also gave me a lot of time to work on my game. I just did not give up. I set myself a time period. I had achieved almost everything in cricket — played Tests, one-dayers, captained, and done well in World Cup. I had to come back, and I knew I could. I just gave it everything that I had.