Is Ganguly's ODI career over?
India, on the back of a series win against Sri Lanka with 2 more games to go in the series, have picked Kaif and VRV Singh to replace Venugopal Rao and JP Yadav. No place for Saurav Ganguly in the squad. Two selection meetings have happened since Ganguly's tennis elbow kept him out of the ODI team, and he was not considered in either one.
With Sachin back and scoring wonderfully, and Gambhir scoring a great century in his only chance in the series so far, is this really the end of the road for India's second-most successful ODI player? His record in ODIs, any way you slice and dice it, is fantastic. Over 10,000 runs at an average of 40 and 22 centuries - he is in an exalted league of players. However, it is obvious that he does not fit into the new scheme of things (the Chappell and Dravid Way), and with the team in rebuild phase, Ganguly's days seem to be over.
In Indian cricket, nothing can ever be said with such certainty, but when reports come out that Mr. Dalmiya has sacrificed Ganguly to deflect attention from the elections to the BCCI (according to Bindra, a charge Dalmiya refutes, obviously!), things look bad. Sad but true. As I had written earlier, India had to do very badly under Dravid for Ganguly to have any chance of coming back. However, an emphatic series win for India with Dravid's golden batting streak has made it bloody tough for Dada.
What will happen in the Tests though? Reports suggest that India may go in for 2 captains, with Ganguly back for the Tests. I think that will be a terrible decision. If anything, Ganguly is a better ODI player and surely does not deserve to be in the team for the Tests. Also, having 2 captains at this stage of the team's evolution will undo all the good work that has gone in, and create further confusion and divisions. Now no one wants that eh?
With Sachin back and scoring wonderfully, and Gambhir scoring a great century in his only chance in the series so far, is this really the end of the road for India's second-most successful ODI player? His record in ODIs, any way you slice and dice it, is fantastic. Over 10,000 runs at an average of 40 and 22 centuries - he is in an exalted league of players. However, it is obvious that he does not fit into the new scheme of things (the Chappell and Dravid Way), and with the team in rebuild phase, Ganguly's days seem to be over.
In Indian cricket, nothing can ever be said with such certainty, but when reports come out that Mr. Dalmiya has sacrificed Ganguly to deflect attention from the elections to the BCCI (according to Bindra, a charge Dalmiya refutes, obviously!), things look bad. Sad but true. As I had written earlier, India had to do very badly under Dravid for Ganguly to have any chance of coming back. However, an emphatic series win for India with Dravid's golden batting streak has made it bloody tough for Dada.
What will happen in the Tests though? Reports suggest that India may go in for 2 captains, with Ganguly back for the Tests. I think that will be a terrible decision. If anything, Ganguly is a better ODI player and surely does not deserve to be in the team for the Tests. Also, having 2 captains at this stage of the team's evolution will undo all the good work that has gone in, and create further confusion and divisions. Now no one wants that eh?
:-)
Posted by
Übermaniam |
5:45 PM