The axe has finally fallen. After being removed from captaincy and being rested, Ganguly was pushed out of the one day team and made part of only the test team. And the selectors have decided to go for youth in selecting the squad for tests against England and dropped Ganguly.

I feel bad for Ganguly. For no apparent fault of his - everyone goes through a rough patch in form - ask Sehwag, Dravid, Sachin, heck, Yuvraj - he was played around with as a political pawn. His godfather (Dalmiya) has basically caused his downfall. After the Pawar camp got control of the BCCI they made it a point to hit back at Dalmiya and what better way to do that than to dethrone the Prince of Kolkatta!

It is sickening. I mean, I don’t mind the current squad, but Ganguly did not deserve this treatment. I have been a Ganguly critic for a lot of the stuff he has done, mostly for his ‘favoritism’, but he did perform when needed. Instead of giving him the long run that he gave ‘his guys’ (Nehra, Zaheer, Bajji, Viru, etc.), he was embarrassingly thrown out of the captaincy, the odi team and now the test team.

Anyway, I won’t rant more. I have made my point - Ganguly’s dropping was incorrect, and it does not show any class. If the selectors wanted to throw him out, they should have asked him to step down and retire from international cricket. Or something other than dropping him. He could easily walk into this team.

As for the squad itself, why was Gambhir dropped again? What has Jaffer done to replace Gambhir? Or is the plan to continue opening with Dravid? I hope not.
Also, why continue with Harbajan?? It is ok to give other spinners a chance! Yes, he and Kumble have worked wonders on Indian pitches, but so has Ganguly. Drat, I had promised not go flip back to Ganguly, but I can’t help it! Anyway, there are other spinners who could and should be blooded, instead of continuing with Bajji, who clearly needs a boost in confidence and brain power.

Bottomline though, India as a team should pummel the Poms!