Giving out Ganguly's numbers!

By John Cheeran
If the chairman of national selection committee Dilip Vengsarkar and his colleagues Venkatapathy Raju (South Zone), Ranjib Biswal (East Zone), Sanjay Jagdale (Central Zone) and Bhupinder Singh (North Zone) take a look at Sourav Ganguly’s record in South Africa and pick him for the Test series on the basis of those runs, there would not be a graver injustice than that to truth.
The truth is that Ganguly of now is a ghost of his glory years.
He has struggled throughout his comeback bid in India as well as on English county circuit.
It would be an injustice to youngsters such as Tamil Nadu’s Badrinath, Delhi’s Gautam Gambhir, and even to West Bengal’s Jhunjhunwala, who batted much better than Ganguly in the last game the former Indian skipper played against Punjab in Mohali.
Here you can take a look at how Ganguly had scored in South Africa in the past two tours.
2001-2002 First Test Bloemfontein vs South Africa: Sourav Ganguly 14 and 30; Rahul Dravid (as an opener) 2 and 11, VVS Laxman 32 and 29
Second Test Port Elizabeth: Ganguly 42 and 4 (n.o.), Dravid 2 and 87, VVS Laxman 89
In One-dayers 1st match vs SA: Ganguly 127; Dravid 1; 2nd match vs SA : Ganguly 24, Dravid 54; 3rd match vs Kenya: Ganguly 24, Dravid 11; 4th match vs SA: Ganguly 85, Dravid 71; 5th match vs Kenya Ganguly 111, Dravid did not bat; Final vs South Africa: Ganguly 9, Dravid 77 (top scorer)
In 1996-97 First Test at Durban: Ganguly 16 and 0; Dravid 7 and 27 not out
Second Test Cape Town: Ganguly 23 and 30; Dravid 2 and 12 Third Test Johannesburg: Ganguly 73 and 60; Dravid 148 and 81
One-day series: Vs South Africa: Ganguly 40; David 8; vs Zimbabwe Ganguly 38, Dravid 23; vs South Africa Ganguly 0, Dravid 50; vs South Africa Ganguly 83, Dravid 53; vs Zimbabwe Ganguly 31, Dravid 12; vs Zimbabwe Ganguly 12, Dravid 17; Final vs South Africa Ganguly 5, Dravid 84 (top scorer).
This string of scores indicate Ganguly cracks under pressure in big games where as Dravid lifts his batting when going gets tough against quality opponents as he has proved in those two one-day finals against South Africa.
But the point is that whatever success Ganguly has achieved in the past does not make him a decent player now, deserving an India cap.