 Dada is back!
 Sourav Ganguly has been included in the squad for the first Test against Sri Lanka, ending all the speculation on that development in the media and elsewhere.
Ominously, this has proved right, forecasts by both Ganguly himself and the BCCI president Ranbir Singh Mahendra. While no one wants the door shut permanently against Ganguly in a vindictive, punitive spirit, it is quite worrying that the former India skipper was as confident predicting his return as he used to be while foretelling the demise of one of his colleagues’ career, or such bizarre experiments as the promotion of Yuvraj Singh to No. 1 in the batting order.
Equally disturbing was Mahendra’s alleged pronouncement that Ganguly’s inclusion was a certainty, a couple of days before the selectors met. It all suggests that the fresh air sweeping Indian cricket of late has once again been stifled by the polluting fumes of politics.
Ironically, Ganguly returns to Test cricket, in which his showing in the last few seasons has been less than admirable, notwithstanding the odd century or fifty, made against mediocre opposition, while in India’s ODI scheme of things, in which his ability and performance bears comparison with the best in the business, there seems no place for him.
The more vital questions to be asked are: 1) Is Ganguly an automatic choice in the playing eleven? 2) If so, whom will he keep out? 3) If no, will it be fair to keep him on the reserve bench? and 4) what kind of influence will he exert on the rest of the team?
For all the brave statements recently attributed to Ganguly, how will he deal with the Greg Chappell issue? Can he really look him in the eye and pretend nothing went wrong between them, and even if he can brazen it out, what will be Chappell’s reaction to his presence in the team, just when the atmosphere in the dressing room was beginning to be just right? Have the selectors shot themselves and the Indian team in the foot?
V Ramnarayan
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