Ganguly back for India
India's former captain Sourav Ganguly has been chosen in the team for the first two Tests against visiting Australia, giving him a chance to prolong his international career that had come under cloud.
Ganguly, the 36-year-old left-hander got a call-up again as a member of the 15-man squad chosen by the new national selection committee, headed by former opener Krishnamachari Srikkanth, which met in Mumbai on October 1.
The opener was given a chance despite not featuring in the domestic Irani Trophy competition recently, which is viewed as the traditional selection trial for Tests, sparking speculation about the future of his career.
Ganguly was under pressure to retain his place in the side after scoring just 96 in a three-Test series in Sri Lanka recently. Besides, he has averaged 31.73 in twenty Tests against Australia with just one century, well below his overall average of 41.74.
However, unlike the previous selection committee headed by former middle-order batsman Dilip Vengsarkar, the new selection panel kept faith in senior players in the first two Tests.
The four-Test series against visiting Australia begins in Bangalore on October 9 and the remaining matches are to be played at Mohali, Delhi and Nagpur.
Ganguly is not only India's most successful skipper with 21 wins in 49 matches but is also a prolific batsman, piling up 6,888 runs in 109 Tests with 15 centuries in Tests.
Besides the "Prince of Kolkata", the selectors also kept their faith in veteran players Anil Kumble, the captain, Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman who too had come under pressure after their below-par performances in Sri Lanka.
The choice of Ganguly clearly reflects a new approach of the new selection committee which has decided to prefer experience against the Australians, rather than grooming too many young players as was done by the previous selectors.
After a two-hour meeting of the selection committee, Srikkanth told media persons that "this is the best according to us".
A notable omission from the team is that of left handed Yuvraj Singh who, like Ganguly, was also kept out of the Rest of India team for the Irani Trophy match.
The two Test rookies in the team for the first two Tests are Tamil Nadu middle-order batsman Subramaniam Badrinath and Haryana leg-spinner Amit Mishra who got a recall into the Test team after five years.
Badrinath, 28, a prolific run-getter in domestic competitions, made his one-day international debut in Sri Lanka recently as a replacement for an injured Tendulkar and Mishra has so far played just three ODIs and that too in 2003.
Badrinath and Mishra replace batsman Rohit Sharma and off-spinner Pragyan Ojha.
Wicketkeeper Mahendra Singh Dhoni returned to the side after choosing to opt out of the Sri Lanka tour due to fatigue.
Team
Anil Kumble (captain), Sachin Tendulkar, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Rahul Dravid, Sourav Ganguly, Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, VVS Laxman, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Ishant Sharma, Munaf Patel, Rudra Pratap Singh, Subramaniam Bardinath and Amit Mishra.
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