Whether Sourav Ganguly is a rugby union fan is not known, but today, he took a leaf out of the Bobby Skinstad book of leadership. The similarities between the South African captain and his Indian cricket counterpart are many. Both men were golden boys who could do no wrong not so long ago. The subsequent loss of form and reputation has been difficult for both to deal with, more so because it had people questioning their very presence in the team. On a personal level, both men are passionate to the point of being abrasive. Skinstad spent ten minutes in the sin-bin for some over-zealous play last Saturday and you can be sure that if there were a similar enclosure in cricket, Ganguly would be a frequent visitor. Perhaps it has something to do with the fact that both men have been entrusted with the job of steering the ship through Malacca Strait-like waters. They lead young sides still finding their feet in the unforgiving arenas of international sport.

The challenge is two-fold. Any book on cricket followers in India or rugby fans in South Africa would be titled Great Expectations. Along with that constant pressure, the two men have to deal with their own crises of confidence. Ganguly's batting has gone to pot while Skinstad is only just rediscovering the form that once made him the world's best flanker.

With the clamour for his head building to a tumult back home, Ganguly responded in the best possible fashion today. After his frontline bowlers disappointed early on, he brought himself on to send back Kumar Sangakkara and balance the scales. After lunch, he and Zaheer Khan were a real menace, moving the ball both in the air and off the pitch. If they had had anything like adequate back-up, the Sri Lankans would have been dismissed by tea.

Mahela Jayawardene's scintillating hundred (104 from 149 deliveries, with 17 fours) was the big bee-sting that spoilt Ganguly's summer day. As a destructive strokemaker, Jayawardene is definitely in the Tendulkar-Ponting-Inzamam category. If he can overcome the lapses in concentration that surface every so often, he will be one of the greats. The fact that he reaches fifty every two Test matches indicates that he isn't far from the legend trail.

No day of cricket featuring Ganguly would be complete without some controversy. Today, it was his running on the pitch that angered Steve Bucknor and led to two warnings. Some of his appeals were also over the top but it was encouraging to see that he has no intention of doing a Roberto Duran (no mas, no mas) and shirking the fight. Like the punch-drunk heavyweights of old, he'll keep swinging till the referee - or Bucknor - stops the contest.

Dileep Premachandran is assistant editor of Wisden Online in India. The Wisden Verdict appears at the close of each day's play in this series.

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