Why only Ganguly?

That is perhaps the surprising question on everyone’s lips. And rightly so. Every time the selectors whom the famous Pakistani cricketer Zaheer Abbas once nicknamed as ‘bunch of nincompoops’ sideline the most successful skipper that Team India has produced ever, the opposition and criticism come pouring in. With Ganguly axed from the Irani Trophy squad, his cricketing career seems heading towards a tragic end though the Tiger of Bengal has promised that two years of cricket is still left in him and that he would bounce back in Test cricket.

Well, this is not the first time that the gentlemen called national selectors have erred or did injustice to Ganguly. Many have started to believe that Ganguly has no well wisher or sympathizer in the current 5-member selection committee headed by Dilip Vensarkar. Interestingly, the other four members, e.g. Bhupinder Singh Sr., Sanjay Jagdale, Ranjib Biswal and Venkatapathy Raju had been less than mediocre cricketers in their days, who sat on the judgement seat and decided the fate of Ganguly. While Sanjay Jagdale and Ranjib Biswal played domestic cricket only and have no experience of international exposure, Bhupinder Singh Sr played only two ODIs, but not a single Test match.

It all started with the arrival of Greg Chappell on the scene. Being an arrogant and exclusive person, Greg tried to snatch the all powerful dominance that Ganguly used to wield in the team. Chappell did not like this, as Ganguly remained the biggest hurdle in his experimentations that hurt India dearly. He asked the skipper to quit. The BCCI and the selection committee endorsed Chappell’s recommendation. There were uproars in the media for months. Finally, Ganguly was shown the door at the behest of Chappell, who proved a disaster for Team India. But brave Ganguly made a flying comeback, and in 2007, he scored 1023 runs in 9 Test matches in 2007, more than any other Indian cricketer.

Now look at the performance of the big three. While Sachin scored a total of 95 runs in 3 Test matches in the recently concluded India-Sri Lanka series with highest score being 31, Ganguly scored 96 runs with 35 being the highest score. Even Dravid who scored 148 runs in three Tests was found struggling against Ajantha Mendis. All the three stalwarts did not perform as per their caliber and expectations. So, judging on performance basis, Sachin and Dravid must also be dropped or they should announce their retirement. But that is not the case with the members of the selection committee.

According to former India cricketer Kirti Azad, “the selectors discriminated against Sourav Ganguly by ignoring him for the Irani Trophy while retaining Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid, who were equally off-colour in the recent Sri Lanka tour.” Ganguly's exclusion is not only harsh, but also unfair in the sense that he is a senior player who brought so much glory to the country. At least, a cricketer of Ganguly stature should not be treated so harshly."