An observation by Indian team's trainer Gregory King coupled with Dhoni and Yuvraj Singh's opinions might have prompted the selectors to drop Sourav Ganguly.
ADELAIDE: An observation by Indian team's trainer Gregory King coupled with captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni and his deputy Yuvraj Singh's opinions might have prompted the selectors to drop Sourav Ganguly from the one-day squad for the forthcoming cricket tri-series.
King, who keeps a tab on the fitness of Indian team, apparently believed that Ganguly's lower half could give him trouble before long and this went a long way in sealing the fate of the pugnacious left-hander.
The selectors, Dilip Vengsarkar and Co., including Ranjib Biswal and Venkatapathy Raju on the present tour, were keen to have Ganguly retained as late as on the second day of the Perth Test last week.
They even toyed with the idea of recalling Rahul Dravid, basing their argument that Rohit Sharma and Robin Uthappa had not done much of note in the domestic circuit lately.
Dhoni though had different ideas and informed the selectors that it did not serve much purpose to include a player who could break down at some stage of the one-day tour.
The argument against Ganguly also included the points that he was not of much use either in the outfield or infield and his fitness really became an issue after 40 overs.
Vengsarkar, it is learnt, made a pointed reference about the runs which Ganguly still provides to the team.
It met with the counter that the young Indian one-day captain did not believe the pitches in Australia would really be all that quick. More so since his lads had shown themselves to be quite capable of holding their ground on the overtly helpful pitch of Kingsmead, Durban, during the Twenty20 World Cup last September.
The logic of a Twenty20 game being different from a proper one-day match did not quite pass the mustard.
Vengsarkar, finding himself at a loss, apparently asked for a rethink on the fourth day of the Perth Test. This time Dhoni was accompanied in the teleconference by his deputy Yuvraj Singh.
Yuvraj, apparently did not disagree that Ganguly was still useful for the runs he makes at the crease but he felt the fielding ability of the Bengal left-hander was a major issue.
It, therefore, became a foregone conclusion that Ganguly would not be needed in the one-day series. It became the task of Biswal to break the news to Ganguly. Biswal initially told India's Test captain Anil Kumble about the impending move.
The latter on his part nudged Biswal to break the news to Ganguly. The word from the Indian dressing room suggested that Ganguly's fitness was an issue even during the one-day series against Pakistan at home.
It did not become a fully blown issue because of the tremendous form Ganguly exhibited at home, striking a double hundred, a century and a near one to top 500 runs against Pakistan last year.
Apparently, Ganguly was conscious of being nudged out of the team and had spoken to selectors about at least affording him a big one-day series in Australia.
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