Suspense is terrible, but Ganguly hopes it lasts!

By John Cheeran
So they are killing him softly.
National selectors have named Sourav Ganguly among the 30-member probables for the Champions Trophy to be held in India in October.
All of us are now familiar with the final pages of this tear-jerker and the END is there in bold letters. I hope Ganguly is literate and sensible enough to read that and not be fooled by the capers of Kiran More and company.
Ganguly's supporters, however, are ecstatic but I can't hold back my amusement.
As Oscar Wilde said, "the suspense is terrible, but I hope it lasts."
The suspense will definitely last now till September 7, the deadline to prune the squad for Champions Trophy into 15.
Kiran More, chairman of selectors had a convenient argument trotted out for picking Ganguly in Bangalore yesterday. "Every year we discuss various issues before picking a team. Here we just picked the best 30 that we have," said More. "He [Ganguly] is a contracted player and I think he's good enough to be among the probables."
But selectors, if they were really keen to take a peek into the future, have not done the right thing by including Ganguly in the list.
One should fancy youth over experience (or is it the ability to make mistakes), especially in one-day cricket. And Ganguly should not figure in the final 15 for the Champions Trophy.
He does not deserve to be there if cricket is any yardstick for selection. Ganguly had a terrible stint with Northamptonshire where he had a first-class average of 4.80 in six innings.
However, More said that his selection was not just based on his county season but was a combination of the previous domestic season and past performances.
I find it strange that on one hand selectors have brought in youngsters and at the same time accommodated an out of form cricketer who is desperate to revive his financial stature by usurping the India spotlight.
The long list includes three uncapped batsmen, 19-year-old Mumbai player Rohit Sharma, Subramaniam Badrinath and Tejinderpal Singh and now what role Ganguly can play in Indian cricket?
Bringing Ganguly in is a political move to keep both Dalmiya and the Calcutta batsman on back foot. By including Ganguly among the probables, Sharad Pawar camp is apparently giving the signal to Dalmiya lobby that they are the real supporters of Ganguly and inturn trying to make life difficult for the Cricket Association of Bengal President.
Also, this could be the way of coach Greg Chappell and captain Rahul Dravid to tell those skeptics that they are above board when selection of the former Indian captain crops up.
Yes, Chappell and Dravid have not forbidden selectors to ignore Ganguly absolutely. He has been considered, he is good enough to be among the 30 but not good enough to be part of the real Indian dream.
Can there be a more damning indictment of a former Indian captain?
But to tune in to the reaction of Ganguly lobbyists is highly hilarious.Let us hear former East Zone selector Sambaran Banerjee. "I hope he will be included in the 15-member team also - at least going by cricketing ethics and etiquette. I think it is very significant that in the regime of (coach) Greg Chappell, (captain) Rahul Dravid and (selection panel chair) Kiran More, he is back in the team," Banerjee said.
What does Banerjee mean by ethics and etiquette in cricket?
Does it mean that selectors should reserve places for certain individuals in the Indian team, in deference to their past displays?
List of Probables: Rahul Dravid, Virender Sehwag, Sachin Tendulkar, Yuvraj Singh, Mohammad Kaif, Suresh Raina, Irfan Pathan, Mahendra Singh Dhoni (wk), Harbhajan Singh, Ramesh Powar, Dinesh Mongia, Ajit Agarkar, Sreesanth, Munaf Patel, Rudra Pratap Singh, Anil Kumble, Zaheer Khan, VVS Laxman, Venugopal Rao, Robin Uthappa, Gautam Gambhir, Piyush Chawla, S Badrinath, Rohit Sharma, TP Singh, Shib Paul, VRV Singh, Parthiv Patel (wk), Dinesh Karthik (wk) and Sourav Ganguly.