Following the non-inclusion of Sourav Ganguly in the teams for the Champions Trophy and the tri-series in Malaysia, opinion seems to have firmed up that the former captain had already played his last international match.
NEW DELHI: Following the non-inclusion of Sourav Ganguly in the teams for the Champions Trophy and the tri-series in Malaysia, opinion seems to have firmed up that the former captain had already played his last international match.
Former India Test players Ajit Wadekar, Abbas Ali Baig, Chetan Chauhan and Maninder Singh all felt it was extremely difficult for the 34-year-old Ganguly to stage a comeback to the national squad, leave alone playing in the 2007 World Cup.
Ganguly, a veteran of 88 Tests and 279 one-day internationals, continues to live on hope, saying that he was still good enough to play for the country even though he has been ignored for the Sept 12-29 triangular series in Kuala Lumpur and the Oct 7-Nov 5 Champions Trophy in India.
Former India captain Wadekar can clearly see the selection trend.
"It looks like it is the end of the road for him. Looks like the selectors do not want him even for the 2007 World Cup," Wadekar said from Mumbai.
"These are clear signs of the trend of the present selection committee (led by Kiran More)," said the man who led India to the historic Test series win in the West Indies in 1971.
Former opener Chauhan concurred with Wadekar.
"This selection committee will not select him," he said. "But Ganguly should be given an opportunity. He has performed exceedingly well in the past."
But how can Ganguly be fitted in a well-settled team? At which position? And at what cost? These are some of the tough questions that need to be answered by the selectors, who have thrown their weight behind younger batsmen like Robin Uthappa, Suresh Raina and Mahendra Singh Dhoni, all who have delivered in Ganguly's absence.
Apart from the ignominy of being dropped following the ill-fated tour of Zimbabwe in September last year, Ganguly's own form has deserted him. Even a desperate bid to regain his form in the English county championship failed miserably recently.
Further, to Ganguly's misfortune, the triangular series between India, hosts Sri Lanka and South Africa was scrapped and rains subsequently washed out the three-match one-day series against Sri Lanka.
Even if Ganguly was not in the team, failure of some players might have made his case just a wee bit stronger, so to say, for the Malaysian tour and the Champions Trophy, though the elegant left-hander never seemed on a firm footing.
Former Test batsman Baig felt Ganguly's days are numbered.
"I'll be very surprised if he is picked for the World Cup. In England (country championship) also he could not set the stands on fire," he said.
"Then, other players are coming up. I wish him luck but it's highly unlikely that he will be picked again. It looks very gloomy."
India's most successful Test captain, Ganguly's own form has contributed crucially to his ouster.
In the last seven ODI innings, the Bengal batsman did not cross 31 and managed a cumulative total of 105 runs. His last half-century came against Sri Lanka in a triangular series match in Dambulla, Sri Lanka, in August last year.
After that knock of 51, his sequence of scores read: 2 not out, 26, 5, 20, 19, 2 and 31.
"He has scored a lot of runs in one-day cricket. What is the point in having a player who had made those runs but is (currently) out of form?" asked Maninder Singh, former India left-arm spinner.
"Look at pacer Zaheer Khan. He has done so well in the English county championship but there is no place even for him in the team. So, on what basis can Ganguly be recalled?"
Rahul Dravid led the team in the triangular series in Sri Lanka after Ganguly was banned for six one-dayers by match referee Chris Broad for India's slow over rate in two successive one-dayers against Pakistan in April last year at home.
While the ban was eventually reduced to four matches, he missed the first few matches in Sri Lanka and the selectors made Dravid captain for the triangular series.
Ganguly returned to captaincy on that fateful Zimbabwe tour. His ouster from captaincy coincided with his omission from the team, though he was picked for a few Test matches after that, never a one-day international.
Despite the gloom, Chauhan and Maninder felt that as long as a cricketer was playing domestic cricket, he couldn't be completely ruled out.
"But he (Ganguly) will have to perform exceedingly well in domestic tournaments. He can comeback as an opener along with Sachin Tendulkar, while Virender Sehwag can go down to No. 4," said Chauhan.
Maninder said: "If he wants to stage a comeback he will have to be like a newcomer. He will have to score centuries and double centuries every third match to be in contention."
Now, Ganguly can only wait for the domestic tournaments to begin next month and hope to score runs for one very last attempt at redemption.
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