For once I feel pretty good about the recently announced the Indian Test team.
- Piyush Chawla was a daring yet sensible selection although a little unfair to Murali Karthik.
- Gautam Gambhir could have been given more opportunities before being dumped. But it is true that he hasn’t made any big scores of late and Wasim Jaffer has been a prolific scorer in the domestic circuit.
- Sreesanth was a certainty after his performance in Pak and all the praise from the likes of Waqar and Imran.
- Agarkar and Zaheer Khan were anyway on their way out and didn’t justify further chances. So VRV is also a welcome addition. With the desi Shoaib Akthar waiting in the wings all these bowlers must be under pressure to perform.
- Suresh Raina was bit of surprise given that there are many prolific scorers in the domestic circuit. But I guess he recent show in Pak plus with an eye on the future the selectors decided to give him a shot. I suspect he’ll be replaced by Yuvraj provided Kaif plays in the 11 and scores some runs.
- As for Ganguly, I am glad the selectors finally made the call to dump him. Its time to move on and hopefully there won’t be any further controversies around this issue (what are the odds of that happening! 🙂
With the team falling apart with injuries and other fitness problems, this Test series should be a tough one for England or so it seems at this stage.
Pakora Korner 
I totally agree that its time to move on, as far as Dada’s concerned. But his fans sure will smell a “Videshi chaal” in this and direct their ire against Chappell. However, I liked what Dravid had said before the last test in Pakistan. He said “if Kumble can sit out to balance the team’s composition, then anyone shouldn’t have any objection!” All other inclusions/exclusions were expected. Gambhir’s been given a long rope upto now and I think he had to go sans big scores. Seems to get good starts then presses the self destruct button!
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You’ll be surprised to hear this about Dada. Someone from Kolkata told me the other day that there are quite a few people out there who admit that Ganguly doesn’t deserve a place in the team based on his performance. Some of it might just be instigated by local politicians. As long as the team keeps winning I think the cries for Dada will wane over time. He is not doing much to hep his cause either. He dropped out of the first Deodhar trophy match which East Zone eventually lost. I don’t think Dada has it in his cricketing abilities(maybe in spirit he still wants to) to fight and earn his spot back.
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