Pressure on selectors to include Ganguly

The Board of Control for Cricket in India advised the selectors "not to ignore Ganguly" for the Test series against Sri Lanka, in the course of the selection meeting which took place in Chennai on Tuesday morning, it is learned. Rahul Dravid may have been named captain for the three-match Test series against Sri Lanka which starts on December 2 but there is considerable pressure on the selection panel to include Sourav Ganguly in the side as player.

Recently Ranbir Singh Mahendra, in a move that can only be termed unusual for a board president, declared emphatically that Ganguly would be back in the team. "At present nobody wants to disturb the winning combination. Otherwise I don't think there's any problem for Sourav to return to the international team," he said. When asked if he believed Ganguly figured in the scheme of things in the long run, he retorted: "Who has ruled him out? Nobody has. This is the handy work of gossip-mongers who believe in sensationalism. He is a great player, he has also been a great captain. We are proud of him and he will definitely make a comeback to the team."

The selectors met on Tuesday morning to pick the captain for the forthcoming home series, and chose Dravid after some discussion, in the light of recent positive results of the team and Dravid's own performance as captain in the opportunities he has got so far. The selectors will meet again to select the ODI team to play the last two matches against South Africa, but Ganguly's chances of making it into that squad are extremely slim.

It is a poorly-kept secret that three of five selectors have been pushing for Ganguly's return. The BCCI, however, on paper at least, is not meant to interfere with the selection panel on matters of team selection. This generally means that selection meetings are given direction and guidance by the chairman of selectors, Kiran More, in this case. What stance More adopts, and how aggressively he chooses to promote this with his fellow selectors will hold the key to Ganguly's return.

But it is by no means a foregone conclusion that Ganguly will return. Yuvraj Singh and Mohammad Kaif, largely considered ODI specialists until now, have both caught the eye of the selectors as players who need to be invested in, and given a decent run, in the long form of the game. While Kaif has always been thought of as having the kind of game suited to the longer version, Yuvraj's flamboyance and inconsistency have been held against him. That Yuvraj has averaged a cracking 48.9 in the last 15 ODIs he has played, has not gone unnoticed, and will make it tough for the selectors to overlook him for the Sri Lanka Tests.

And there is the case of VVS Laxman. Although currently not in the limited overs team, Laxman is virtually a certainty for the Test side. His class is unquestioned, and both captain and coach have the highest regard for him. Keeping all these factors in mind, even with the board's instruction to the selectors, it's too close to call whether Ganguly will return or not.