‘Not the end of road for Dada’

By Sundari Iyer

Mumbai

Sept. 9: Even as reports came in from London saying former India captain Sourav Ganguly still feels that it’s not time yet for him to bid adieu to international cricket, there have been mixed reactions from the cricketing fraternity. Some blame his exit on his poor performance on the recent Sri Lanka tour, while others feel that the selectors may be trying to give juniors a chance for the upcoming home series against Australia.

While Rahul Dravid, V.V.S. Laxman and Sachin Tendulkar still feature in the squad, why the axe on Ganguly is the obvious question. Doing so has become a regular feature. But that doesn’t stop the stylish left-handed batsman from going on.

Former India skipper Ajit Wadekar is of the opinion that the reason for dropping Ganguly from the Irani Cup side is that the selectors want to try out new talent. Ganguly is not somebody who you need to test. He need not prove anything his track record proves it all for him, feels Wadekar.

"I think that too much has been made out of axing Ganguly. And it doesn’t need any further probe. The Indian team will surely need his experience when the Australians come here to play," he added. "I don’t have any doubt about his experience but may be the selectors are looking at preparation for the Australia series. And as not many practice matches are left before the series start, the Irani Cup will serve as the best platform for newcomers to get some practice in the longer version of the game," said Pravin Amre, Mumbai Ranji coach.

Former India coach and player Anshuman Gaekwad feels that the selectors have seen enough of Ganguly and would like to try out some new players. "This is not the end of the road for Ganguly. Even Yuvraj Singh has faced the axed so the senior-junior thing also doesn’t come into play," he added.