Kolkata: As a mark of respect towards his contribution to the game, Dakshin Dinajpur District Sports Association has decided to erect a statue of living cricket legend Sourav Ganguly at the Balurghat Stadium. The 8 feet tall statue will be inaugurated by Sourav himself after he returns from England on June 27. Sourav will be in England to do commentary for the forthcoming ICC Champions Trophy.
The statue shows the Prince of Kolkata holding his bat after scoring a century in Brisbane during the series Down Under in 2003. According to Gautam Goswami, the secretary of Dakshin Dinajpur DSA, “We have decided to erect his (Sourav) statue as a gesture to show our respect towards his contribution to the game, both as a cricketer and as an administrator.”
Artist Sushanta Pal has been working day and night to give a perfect finish to the statue. In the words of the artist himself, “It has been quite a challenging task as I had to ensure that the statue of Sourav is perfect. I was asked to keep an action position of Dada (Sourav). After going through several pictures on the internet, we zeroed in on this picture where he was seen acknowledging the crowd after scoring a century. Sourav himself approved his face in the statue after we sent him the pictures.”
Sushanta, who has earlier made the statue of Ratan Lal Brahman is quite tensed about the last minutes work. He has started his work on the statue for the last four months. The statue will be moulded in plaster of paris followed by fibre casting.
“I am spent some anxious last few months trying to give a perfect shape to the statue. I ensured that everything about the statue is perfect – be it his hands, the jersey, the bat which he is holding and most importantly his body language. I am informed by Gautamda that he (Sourav) is very satisfied with the work in progress,” says Sushanta who hails from Subhash Pally in Siliguri.
Sushanta is targeting to finish the statue by June 10 next month.
According to Gautam Goswami, the man behind the entire idea, “Sourav has been the real ambassador of cricket from Bengal. He has shown the world to hold your head high at times of adversities. He has made us proud in front of the world. As an administrator also, he is leaving his mark by spreading the game of cricket to remote districts in Bengal. He has ensured that there is no lack of facilities in the districts.”