What now for Sourav Ganguly?

By John Cheeran
What now for Sourav Ganguly?
One cannot evade this question any longer.
The former skipper’s absence has proved to be a blessing for Team India as the resounding 6-1 series win over Sri Lanka shows.
As Rahul Dravid’s India was conducting its experiments against Sri Lanka, Ganguly was having his own experiments in Duleep Trophy.
Only difference was this – Ganguly’s experiments with bat have backfired and National selectors are justified in ignoring the Maharaj for the entire Sri Lankan series.
Kiran More has retained the same squad which completed the series win against Sri Lanka at Baroda for the first three one-dayers against South Africa.
More, however, has left enough room for drama.
Selectors are due to announce the squad for the last two one-dayers – Kolkata and Mumbai—at Chennai on November 22.
At the moment my bet is that Eden Gardens won’t get to see Maharaja in his pomp.
Will there be another riot at Eden?
It would be a pity, I must say.
The clamour for Ganguly’s inclusion is not yet over; its tone has however turned from demand to wailing.
Look at what happened in the first two days of the Duleep Trophy final which is being played out at the Motera Stadium in Ahmedabad.
What Vikram Rajvir Singh and Amit Bhandari failed to do in Rajkot, Zaheer Khan has done in Ahmedabd. Zaheer has put Ganguly in his place.
In East Zone’s first innings Ganguly was clean bowled by Zaheer for a duck. Ganguly’s innings lasted seven balls.
How unsuitable Ganguly is for competitive cricket right now was proved in East Zone’s second innings. This time Ganguly couldn’t survive the first ball he faced from his former colleague Zaheer. Zaheer trapped him lbw.
These two dismissals are clear proof that Ganguly is out of touch with cricketing realities. The sooner Ganguly realizes that he can’t claim a place in the Indian side on his past glory, the better for him.
I believe Zaheer was desperate to get the prize wicket of Ganguly at Motera. His earlier show in the Duleep Trophy semifinal against Central Zone at Aurangabad was ignored by selectors when they announced the one-day squad to take on the South Africans.
Now by giving Ganguly a Duleep Pair, Khan can be positive that More will turn towards him when he next sits together with Dravid and Chappell.
But nothing is certain in this world.
The likes of Zaheer Khan must be watchful. After his failure to win back a place in the Indian side as a batsman, Ganguly is now retrofitting himself as a bowler. Throughout the Duleep Trophy contests, Ganguly, ever the shirker, has grabbed the ball to transform himself as a bowler.
Delusions can have no limits, I presume.