Edged out

Sir ? The exclusion of Sourav Ganguly from the one-day squad for the upcoming matches against Pakistan is unwarranted. Nothing in Indian cricket follows simple logic, there is a great deal of politics involved at every step. Many talented cricketers have fallen victim to the tussle between two groups vying for control of the Indian cricket establishment. What we are witnessing now is the appalling outcome of the between a cricketer and coach, with a crucial role being played by the non-cricketing interests of the administrators and selectors. How is it that Sachin Tendulkar is retained even after failing to make a single impressive score in the three tests? It is only because Tendulkar has honed his diplomatic skills better than Ganguly. No one can deny Ganguly?s prowess in the shorter version of game, yet selectors have repeatedly undermined this in recent times. Someone who has done so much for Indian cricket certainly deserves a little more respect.

Yours faithfully,
Shubhajit Chakraborty, Calcutta

Sir ? Sourav Ganguly did not get an opportunity to bat in the first test against Pakistan at Lahore, and he was dropped in the second one. In the third test at Karachi, he may not have got centuries, but scored 34 and 37 in the two innings, when the other senior batsmen barely managed to reach double-digit scores. Rahul Dravid scored 3 and 2, Virender Sehwag 5 and 4, Sachin Tendulkar 23 and 26 and V.V.S. Laxman 19 and 21 (So many poor scores on a sporting wicket cannot be accidental?) In each innings, Ganguly scored more runs than that of Sehwag, Dravid and Tendulkar put together. This should at least prove that there is still a bit of cricket left in him, and that dropping Ganguly arbitrarily is to do great injustice to him. Is this the way Greg Chappell proposes to build a team for the 2007 World Cup?

Yours faithfully,
Sandipan Sen, Calcutta

Sir ? Sourav Ganguly has such a good test and ODI record that the decision to drop him from the one-day team is nothing short of an insult. Former Pakistani captains, Zaheer Abbas and Rameez Raja, too, feel that Ganguly has been judged wrongly. They have clearly said that he should have been judged on the way he scored and not how much. And even if he were to be judged on his score, he should have made the cut, given the scores of others. I only wish that Ganguly?s performance gets better so that he does not have to prove himself time and again.

Yours faithfully
Nandini Saraf, Calcutta

Sir ? Greg Chappell is a great cricketer and a greater coach perhaps. But his single-point agenda now seems be to isolate and humiliate Sourav Ganguly. The mess that Indian cricket is in right now is largely Chappell?s doing. Once the Right to Information Act is passed, one hopes that the selection process to choose the Indian cricket team will have to become transparent, and the first beneficiary of this will be Ganguly.

Yours faithfully,
Shib Sankar Mukherjee, Shyamnagar

Sir ? Before the Indo-Pak series began, some expressed the apprehension that Rahul Dravid?s lack of aggression could be India?s undoing. And it was. When faced with a green top in Karachi, Dravid decided that discretion was the better part of valour and put Pakistan in to bat. Though our bowlers, led by Irfan Pathan, exploited the conditions initially, they failed to push the initiative. When it was India?s turn to bat, they lost four quick wickets and collapsed save some rearguard action which allowed them to get close to the Pak score. Thereafter it has been Pakistan all the way. If you pack the team with six batsmen, your aim should be to bat first, leaving the last use of the pitch to the opponents. The planning was all wrong, because given the current form of Pakistani batsmen, India should have played Harbhajan Singh in place of a batsman (maybe Sourav Ganguly). The logic is that if five batsmen are not enough, having a sixth will not make much of a difference, and five bowlers can help get the opponents out twice. The lesson is that in a crunch match, you have to stick to the basics and follow a tried and tested batting order.

Yours faithfully,
S. Kamat, Alto Porvorim, Goa

Sir ? The president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India has claimed that the decision to drop Sourav Ganguly from the one-day team was unanimous. The photographs of the children of Ganguly and Sachin Tendulkar, splashed all over our newspapers, cannot fool us into believing that all is well with the team spirit. The attitude of the selectors seems to be: no matter how long his dry spell lasts, Tendulkar is Tendulkar, but Ganguly must pay for the smallest of mistakes. But this might just make Ganguly a stronger individual and help him fight back.

Yours faithfully,
Ashiwani Kumar Singh, Durgapur

Sir ? The BCCI has done a disservice to Team India, by announcing the squad for the forthcoming one-day series in the middle of the final test at Karachi. Three cricketers, namely, Anil Kumble, Sourav Ganguly and V.V.S. Laxman, who played the test have been kept out of the one-day squad, and this news came to them while the match was on and headed towards a result. Although all three are experienced professionals and their exclusion does not come as a major surprise, they are human beings and team spirit is still very much a human element. The BCCI could very well have declared the squad after the Test got over. It is another matter that Murali Karthik keeps getting chances at the expense of Kumble, even when the super-sub rule is very much in vogue.

Yours faithfully,
Arjun Chaudhuri, Calcutta