Sourav Ganguly with Om Shanti Om stars Deepika Padukone and Shah Rukh Khan during the final ODI at the Sawai Man Singh Stadium on Sunday. While the superstar was in Jaipur to largely promote his new film, the buzz was that he was probably interested in owning one of the IPL teams. (AP)

Jaipur: “Sourav (Ganguly) has been rested... Of course he hasn’t been dropped,” insisted senior national selector Ranjib Biswal when a clarification was sought by The Telegraph on Sunday afternoon.

While that was the official line on the former captain’s absence from the XI here, the reality is that only impact-making performances in the upcoming Test series against Pakistan and the Tests in Australia will see him make the squad for the tri-series there.

If that doesn’t happen, Sourav’s appearance in Gwalior (his 311th) the other day could well become his last in ODIs. Team India’s 31-run defeat at the Sawai Man Singh Stadium, on Sunday, is unlikely to actually have a bearing.

India’s next one-day engagement, versus Australia, is as far away as February 3 (Brisbane).

Sourav hasn’t made it any easier for himself by averaging just 22.25 in four ODIs of the five-match series which ended under floodlights here.

The selectors had put him on notice when they dropped another former captain, Rahul Dravid, and Sourav should have responded with a strong showing.

There were murmurs centering around Sachin Tendulkar too, but he allowed his performances to do the talking.

Irrespective of the overall quality of the Pakistan attack, Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Co. won the one-day series without Dravid’s calmness and solidity and many may now not think hard about ignoring Sourav’s handsome record.

Moreover, no matter how hard he works, age isn’t on Sourav’s side. He’s in his 36th year.

For the present scenario — apparently, not just some selectors, even the team management in the ODIs wasn’t favourably disposed — to change, Sourav has to make the most of opportunities in the longest version.

Dravid, incidentally, had been dropped in the seventh and final ODI against Australia, in Mumbai a month ago, but the official version was that he’d been rested.

Then, at least, the XII hadn’t been announced. That was done in Jaipur — Greg Chappell’s home turf in his newest avatar — and Sourav had to sit on the bench..