DADA AXED FROM IRANI SQUAD
Yuvraj shown the door; Jaffer gets a new lease of life

The Board of control for cricket in India (BCCI) has applied brakes to the second tenure of the ‘Prince of Kolkata’ Sourav Ganguly by excluding him from the Rest of India squad that will play Ranji champions Delhi in the Irani Trophy match to be played on September 24. The exit comes as a shocker since none of the so called ‘Fab Four’ of the Indian team could strike the right chord and only contributed a meagre 554 runs between themselves in three tests which in turn took away India’s chances of winning a series in the Emerald Isle.

Ganguly who displayed excellent form post come back was dropped with along another left handed batsman in form of Yuvraj Singh. The Punjab lad himself experienced a dry patch and his exclusion came as no surprise. However, many circles felt that Ganguly’s ouster just before a crucial Australian series was too harsh on the former Indian skipper. Announcing the team, Secretary Niranjan Shah said that the board and the selection committee had picked the ‘right team.’

Speaking exclusively to ADC, former coach of the Indian Twenty20 winning team, Lalchand Rajput said that he was surprised that his name was not on the list. “I am surprised as to why Sourav Ganguly has been left out of the Irani Trophy. There were many batsmen in Sri Lanka who failed to perform then why single out Ganguly.”
Rajput said that he bestowed confidence in the Kolkata Knight Rider’s skipper terming him as a ‘determined cricketer’ and was optimistic that he would win back his place back in to the Indian squad. “He is a determined cricketer and he has had made a come back before. He will do it again.”

His exclusion also raises questions about his future with the Indian cricket. Earlier, at the time of taking over the reigns of coaching the Indian side, coach Gary Kirsten hinted that he would was a gradual phasing out of some of the senior players thereby making way for the Gen-next cricketers. Rajput said that if the board was considering something like that it was important to take the player in to consideration before taking such a decision especially since this was his only bad series after his dramatic comeback in to the Indian team. “He is a very valuable player and been a part of the team for a long time. There should be a phase out period and the selectors should talk to the players about their future plans.”

Commenting on Yuvraj Singh, he said despite Yuvraj not performing well in the series against Sri Lanka, the board should have restored faith in the youngster and given him the opportunity to strike form. “I don’t know whether it was right in keeping him out of the team because of his form. If you look at the other side, the Irani Trophy match would have given him the much needed confidence to perform.”

Meanwhile, Mohammed Kaif received his due after a fighting knock of 94 runs against the Australia ‘A’ side and was awarded a place in the side along with discard opener Wasim Jaffer who has been given yet another opportunity to impress the selectors. Jaffer got the call citing Sehwag’s late injury which he sustained during the end of the test series and may keep his place as a back-up opener if he shows his prowess with the bat. Bengal pacer who was also instrumental for the Kolkata Knight Riders team in the absence of Shoiab Akhtar was given a berth in the Rest of India team.

However, Niranjan Shah’s son Jaydev Shah was named in the 15-man India ‘A’ squad for the tri-series against Australia 'A' and New Zealand 'A.' Rajasthan Royals find Swapnil Asnodkar, Mumbai’s all-rounder Abhishek Nayar and medium pacer Dhawal Kulkarni also earned their place in the India ‘A’ squad based on their performance in the IPL.