Ganguly out in 'signal to the team'

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Ganguly out in 'signal to the team'



Mohammad Kaif is the likely candidate to replace
Sourav Ganguly in the Rest of the India middle order
Sourav Ganguly has been left out of the Rest of India squad for the Irani Trophy match in what Cricinfo has learnt is a signal from the national selectors that it is time to start phasing out India's veteran middle-order. Other notable exclusions for the season-opener are Yuvraj Singh, Rohit Sharma and S Badrinath - but Mohammad Kaif has returned to the reckoning after his 94 for India A against Australia A. The Rest team for the match against Delhi, which starts in Vadodara on September 24, is meant to feature probables for the Australia Test series in October. Ganguly's exclusion raises once again a question mark over his international future - he is already out of the ODI picture.
A national selector and a senior BCCI official whom Cricinfo spoke to said the selectors consulted Anil Kumble, the India Test captain, and Gary Kirsten, the national coach, before dropping Ganguly. Both Kumble and Kirsten were completely on board with the decision, they said.
One of the selectors also spoke to Ganguly about the decision and the former India captain has "accepted it", the selector said.
"The decision to drop Ganguly is a signal to the team," the selector said. "He's 36-37 and we felt it was getting increasingly tough for him to cope with the fielding and fitness levels expected at the international level. We spoke to Kumble and Kirsten too, and they were with us on this. We felt we should put in place the process of bringing in the next set of players."
While the decision to drop Ganguly was based on a dip in form and his diminishing fielding skills, they said, the selectors were not convinced that Yuvraj was completely fit.
However, both insisted that Ganguly's Test future could still be revived by the new national selection committee, which will pick the Test team for the four-Test series against Australia starting on October 9.

[rameshxavier]

This News is very painfully.Because Castrol awards are given to outstanding performers of the year every year but this time,Sourav the best.He is the award winner of best cricketer of the year and best test batsman of the year. Then Sourav Ganguly beat many greats to carry home India's most successful Test captain award.I am pretty much sure because he is the only player who is targeted by our cricket boards and our national selecters.indian cricket board still follow the dirty politics.our boards and selecters are biost as dada is from bengal little failure will kick him out of the team.But I am sure he must play in comming matches.