Calcutta: All speculations gathering around Sourav Ganguly were finally over on Saturday when India’s most successful captain was picked in the 16-member Team India Test squad for the tour of Pakistan.

The Telegraph spoke to a few former cricketers about their views on Sourav and the selectors’ decision to recall him, 10 days after axing him from the Ahmedabad Test against Sri Lanka.

Sambaran Banerjee: It is good to see Sourav Ganguly back in Team India’s scheme of things, but still I would say that this selection committee is the weakest of all in the Board’s history. These selectors don’t have any policy whatsover, though they are talking about plans. After the Kotla Test (chief selector) Kiran More said that Sourav doesn’t fit in the team’s scheme of things. And now, within a few days, he is saying that Sourav’s experience will come handy in Pakistan. I can’t imagine what may have transpired in between. I hope Sourav will score runs there and stay in the international arena only to benefit Indian cricket.

I would also like to throw light on the selections of Parthiv Patel and Wasim Jaffer. I don’t know what will they do with two ’keepers? It would have been better had they taken Mohammed Kaif in place of Jaffer.

Arun Lal: I am really very happy that Sourav is there in the squad for the Pakistan trip. Sourav’s inclusion will definitely help the Indian side, particularly when they tour abroad. There will certainly be a lot of pressure on him, but as far as I know Sourav, he is one of those players who loves to thrive on pressure. I hope he will do well in Pakistan. However, I can’t comment on what the chief selector had said after dropping and recalling him within a few days.

Regarding Zaheer Khan and Parthiv Patel, I don’t have much to say. Zaheer was a certainty keeping in mind his form in the domestic cricket, while the committee must have wanted to have two wicketkeepers for the trip and hence the selection of Parthiv.

Ashok Malhotra: Sourav’s comeback has pleased me immensely. But now I would like ask the chief selector (More) about his plans. Last time (on the final day of the Kotla Test on December 14), he had revealed that the selectors were looking at the future and so, Sourav had no place in their plans. And now this volte-face from his part. I am really surprised how the same man could place different logic in a space of few days. Does two wrongs make one right?

My feeling is that the likes of Greg Chappell, Rahul Dravid and More were apprehensive that Sourav might get a big score in Ahmedabad because he looked in brilliant touch at the Kotla. His 39 and 40 showed that he was coming back to form.

I don’t know who Sourav is going to replace in the XI nor I have any idea why Parthiv Patel was recalled. Is he related to More?

Pranab Roy: It had to happen and it happened on Saturday. It’s unfortunate that Sourav was included following a nation-wide commotion over his removal. No wonder then that the selectors had to eat the humble pie offering some whimsical logic to justify his inclusion after axing him just a few days ago.

Kiran More, while dropping Sourav after the Kotla Test, had made it clear that Sourav didn’t fit in the selectors’ plans for the future, and now he’s saying the team needs his experience in Pakistan.

This is ridiculous. One thing becomes clear out of all this that the Board president had to call the shots after the protests, which followed Sourav’s exclusion from the squad.

Parthiv’s inclusion has also surprised me. Last time when we had toured Pakistan, Parthiv was the only wicketkeeper and so there is absolutely no need to take two wicketkeepers in Pakistan this time around.