|
Ganguly axed yet again; new faces get included
for Nagpur |
Feb 23, 2006
 Indian
Selectors have yet again wielded the axe on
former Captain
Sourav Ganguly as they selected a 15-man
squad for the Nagpur Test. Even though an inform
Yuvraj Singh was ruled out due to a hamstring
injury, there was no place for Sourav Ganguly in
the squad. The decision doesn't augur well
considering that Ganguly had done well in the
only Test he had played in Karachi. Infact
Ganguly was the second best batsman in that Test
for India after
Yuvraj Singh. Kiran More, the Chairman of
Selectors gave enough hints about the future of
Sourav's career by saying "we are looking for
the future" and "there's no point in looking
back". The Selectors have taken more of an
arrogant decision rather than a bold or brave
decision regarding the chopping of Sourav's head
in the team.
Mohammad Kaif, who had failed in the 3rd Test
Match against Sri Lanka and had struggled to
make any impact with the bat in the Pakistan ODI
Series gets into the side for his fielding
efforts. However the case is different for the
19 year old Suresh Raina. Raina looked all the
way classy in his only knock at Multan. From his
quick footwork to his thunderous cover drives,
Raina looks like to be one of those "sit and
just watch his batting" kind of batsmen. Along
with Ganguly, another 'G' gets dropped and
that's the flashy
Gautam Gambhir. Gambhir paid the price of
playing too many shots and caused his own
downfall and now is out of the side. Wasim
Jaffer would now be Virender Sehwag's new
opening partner.
 The
bowling attack has seen a couple of new faces in
Piyush Chawla and Vikram Raj Vir Singh.
Ajit Agarkar and
Zaheer Khan have
been dropped due to their ineffectiveness in the
longer version of the game. Sreesanth due to his
decent show in the Pakistan ODIs gets into the
Test Squad. The inclusion of Piyush Chawla comes
in as a breath of fresh air and it's a decision
the Selectors can be appreciated of. The
17-year-old Piyush Chawla is a complete opposite
to what Anil Kumble bowls. Chawla's strength is
in giving flight to the ball and teasing the
batsmen in the air. He gets good turn out of his
leg break and googly; Chawla reminds slightly of
Laxman Sivaramkrishnan's bowling.
Following is the 15-man squad to face England in
the 1st Test at Nagpur which begins on March 1 :
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