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| November 24, 2005 | Thursday | Shawwal 21, 1426 |
Indian selectors hand Ganguly Test lifeline
CHENNAI (India), Nov 23: Deposed captain Saurav Ganguly was on Wednesday handed a lifeline to revive his faltering career after being picked in India’s Test squad for the home series against Sri Lanka.
Ganguly, 33, who was sacked as skipper for both Test and one-day cricket this season, was included in a 15-man squad for the first Test here from Dec 2, chairman of selectors Kiran More told a crowded press conference.
“We have included Saurav as a batting all-rounder,” More said justifying the inclusion of eight specialist batsmen in the squad.
“He has the experience and will lend balance to the Test side. I think there is still a lot of cricket left in him.”
Ganguly, who has scored 5,066 runs in 84 Tests with 12 centuries, has claimed 25 wickets at an embarrassing average of 52.47.
Ganguly was last month dropped from the one-day side due to poor form, an elbow injury and a damaging public row with coach Greg Chappell.
More denied rumours that powerful cricket official Jagmohan Dalmiya, who hails from Ganguly’s home city of Kolkata, had pressured the selectors to include the former captain in the squad.
“No one has spoken to us, that is not the way we work,” he said. “The team has been picked with the best interests of Indian cricket in mind.”
It will be a toss-up between four batsmen — Ganguly, Vangipurappu Laxman, Yuvraj Singh and Mohammad Kaif — for the number five and six slots behind Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, captain Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar.
Swashbuckling one-day batsman Mahendra Dhoni, 24, will make his Test debut as wicket-keeper in place of Dinesh Karthik after a string of good scores in the shorter version of the game.
Dhoni has scored 888 runs in 28 one-dayers at an average of 49.33, including scintillating knocks of 148 against Pakistan in April and an unbeaten 183 off 145 balls against Sri Lanka last month.
Rookie left-armer Rudra Pratap Singh finds a place as the third seamer behind Irfan Pathan and Ajit Agarkar, but is unlikely to make the playing eleven for the first Test on the spin-friendly Chepauk wicket.
Veteran leg-spinner Anil Kumble, who needs 35 scalps to touch the 500-wicket mark, returns to lead the slow bowling attack that includes off-spinner Harbhajan Singh and left-armer Murali Kartik.
The selectors also made no changes in the one-day squad for the last two matches against South Africa at Kolkata on Friday and at Mumbai on Monday. The series is tied 1-1.
Test squad: Rahul Dravid (captain), Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Sachin Tendulkar, Vangipurappu Laxman, Saurav Ganguly, Yuvraj Singh, Mohammad Kaif, Mahendra Dhoni (wicket-keeper), Anil Kumble, Harbhajan Singh, Murali Kartik, Irfan Pathan, Ajit Agarkar, Rudra Pratap Singh.
One-day squad for last two matches against South Africa: Dravid (captain), Sehwag, Tendulkar, Gambhir, Yuvraj Singh, Kaif, Dhoni, Suresh Raina, Irfan Pathan, Agarkar, Jai Prakash Yadav, Rudra Pratap Singh, Sri Sreesanth, Harbhajan Singh, Kartik.—AFP
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