Sports : life magnified

Ganguly has bowled less than 4 overs per test, average of 114 and economy rate of 3.4 in tests in the last 5 years. He has been captain most of the same period and shown no confidence in his own bowling during this period thus.

Yet he has been chosen as an all rounder. India’s answer to Flintoff, Kallis, A.Symonds…

This is what I wrote in another place wanting Ganguly to be dropped from the test XI one and half years ago.

The batting looks settles with Chopra and Sehwag set to open while Ganguly, Dravid, Tendulkar and Laxman are a very strong middle order.. The question to be asked is where does Yuvraj Singh go? Ganguly had earlier stated that the best bet for Yuvraj would be to open the innings.. now thats silly because I would have specialist openers like Chopra and a proven opener in Sehwag open rather than Yuvraj. If need be, I would want Gautam Gambhir or Ramesh to be the replacements for the openers, not Yuvraj..

I pity guys like Md. Kaif for whom playing for the Indian test side seems a distant dream while its so easy for a keeper to play for India.. There was talk of bringing back Ratra or bringing Dinesh Kartik, the under 19 keeper for Patel. Patel has been below par but has been given another chance.. surely its much better to be a keeper in India than a middle order batsman..

If Ganguly plays the test as a middle order batsman, Yuvraj, Kaif and Laxman will fight for the 4th middle order spot. I cannot fathom Laxman being dropped. So I guess Yuvraj and Kaif will have to remain in the side lines and neither of them will be included.