Dada, as Sourav Ganguly is fondly addressed as, makes news all the time. Sometimes it is for the wrong reasons.
 
But with his 16th Test century, the former captain has sent a message to the former chairman of the national selection committee, Dilip Vengsarkar, who is waiting to take Dada on in a war of words. Vengsarkar had said, after Dada’s outburst in Bangalore about being ill-treated by the previous selection committee, he was waiting for the end of the present series against Australia to reply.
Well, if Dada has another century waiting to be scored it would raise his tally to 17, to equal his tormentor Vengsarkar. That would be, in a way, poetic justice. Incidentally, by crossing the 7,000-run mark, Dada has gone head of Vengsarkar in fewer Tests, and it would be interesting to hear the latter’s view on this.
 
It must be said that both batsmen relished the big occasion and emerged trumps, when the odds seemed to be stacked against them. But their batting methods have been vastly different.
 
Both were regarded as extremely elegant practitioners, though in the case of the left-hander his elegance is only on the off-side. But then the proof of the pudding is in the eating. Henceforth, if Vengsarkar is pleased when he is mentioned as an Indian batting great, he would do well to remember he is in the company of two others with almost similar accomplishments, ones he does not like – Dada and Mohammed Azharuddin!
 
Interestingly, will Dada change his mind about retirement after this series?