Former captain Sourav Ganguly's floundering Test career was on Tuesday given a fresh lease of life when he was named in India's 15 - member squad for the first two Tests against Australia starting October 9.
Ignoring the previous selection committee's stand on the elegant left-hander, the new team of selectors -- headed by former captain Krishnamachari Srikkanth -- included the 36-year-old Ganguly in the squad which also has Tamil Nadu batsman S Badrinath and Delhi leg-spinner Amit Mishra as the two new faces.
Ganguly's career was at crossroads after he was ignored by the previous selection panel, with Dilip Vengsarkar at the helm, for the season-opening Irani Cup tie, touted as a virtual selection trial, at Vadodara late last month.
However, a change of guard with the complete overhaul of the selection panel saw the return of Ganguly and he seems certain to play the series opener at Bangalore barring injury.
While Badrinath and Mishra got the selectors' nod, middle-order batsman Yuvraj Singh was ignored yet again for the longer version of the game.
Four players from the 16-strong Test squad to Sri Lanka -- wicket keepers Dinesh Kaarthick and Parthiv Patel, Rohit Sharma and Pragyan Ojha -- were also omitted.
The team: Anil Kumble (Capt), Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, VVS Laxman, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Ishant Sharma, Munaf Patel, R P Singh, S Badrinath, Amit Mishra.
The meeting started an hour late apparently because new BCCI president Shashank Manohar addressed the new selectors, Kumble and coach Gary Kirsten.
Source : PTI
Ignoring the previous selection committee's stand on the elegant left-hander, the new team of selectors -- headed by former captain Krishnamachari Srikkanth -- included the 36-year-old Ganguly in the squad which also has Tamil Nadu batsman S Badrinath and Delhi leg-spinner Amit Mishra as the two new faces.
Ganguly's career was at crossroads after he was ignored by the previous selection panel, with Dilip Vengsarkar at the helm, for the season-opening Irani Cup tie, touted as a virtual selection trial, at Vadodara late last month.
However, a change of guard with the complete overhaul of the selection panel saw the return of Ganguly and he seems certain to play the series opener at Bangalore barring injury.
While Badrinath and Mishra got the selectors' nod, middle-order batsman Yuvraj Singh was ignored yet again for the longer version of the game.
Four players from the 16-strong Test squad to Sri Lanka -- wicket keepers Dinesh Kaarthick and Parthiv Patel, Rohit Sharma and Pragyan Ojha -- were also omitted.
The team: Anil Kumble (Capt), Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, VVS Laxman, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Ishant Sharma, Munaf Patel, R P Singh, S Badrinath, Amit Mishra.
The meeting started an hour late apparently because new BCCI president Shashank Manohar addressed the new selectors, Kumble and coach Gary Kirsten.
Source : PTI