Indian team announced: Ganguly & Gambhir out

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Indian team for first test against England has been announced. Selectors waited to see first day of 3rd test match to select the team and then they ignored the guy who did best ( Munaf Patel 60/5) and selected the guy who did worst (VR Singh).
Ganguly is out. This will sure make lot of news since Yuvraj was injured and there was a place for him.I guess Selectors have decided to move on. Looks like Kaif will play in middle order. Good news is that Gambhir is out. This means Waseem Jaffer is certainly playing as an opener. Other notable exclusion are Zaheer and Agarkar.

http://content-usa.cricinfo.com/ci/content/current/story/238511.html

Sourav Ganguly has been left out of India’s 15-man squad for the first Test against England, while VRV Singh, the Punjab fast bowler, and Piyush Chawla, the young legspinner from Uttar Pradesh, have been included. Wasim Jaffer, who produced an impressive 48 for the Indian Board President’s XI at Vadodara today, retained his place in the squad.
“Sourav’s exclusion was a decision based on performance and keeping in mind the future of the team,” Kiran More, the chairman of the selection committee, told the media. “He has been a good performer for India, but we are trying to bring in youth.”
The 17-year-old Chawla has played in just nine first-class games but his sparkling performances in the Under-19 World Cup, 13 wickets at 12.15, would have strengthened his case. The selectors decided to pick four fast bowlers - Irfan Pathan, Rudra Pratap Singh, Sreesanth and VRV Singh. “We have to look to the future. We have four very good fast bowlers who have performed well, but injuries can happen at any time, so having good back-up is essential,” More said when summing up the selectors’ decision. “Sreesanth has done well in Pakistan, and so he was included, and Irfan and RP have done well, as you have seen. Vikram is a good prospect.”
“Wasim is a fine batsman, he has done well for India and on the domestic circuit,” More added. “It was hard to leave him out.”
Commenting on the absence of Munaf Patel, who impressed against the England XI with 5 for 59 today, More maintained that he would get plenty of chances in the coming year. “Munaf bowled very well, but we decided on Vikram,” More said. “Munaf will get more chances in the coming year, as will Gautam Gambhir. The India A team has important tours coming up, and all will get their chances.”
As expected, Yuvraj Singh was unavailable due to an thigh injury sustained in the final one-day international in Pakistan.
Team
Wasim Jaffer, Virender Sehwag, Rahul Dravid (capt) Sachin Tendulkar, VVS Laxman, Mohammad Kaif, Suresh Raina, Mahendra Singh Dhoni (wk), Irfan Pathan, Piyush Chawla, Harbhajan Singh, Anil Kumble, Sreesanth, Rudra Pratap Singh, VRV Singh
http://content-usa.cricinfo.com/ci/content/current/story/238511.html

Time for SOME1 to be happy. All 3 (Ganguly,Gambhir and Agarakar) best friends of SOME1 are out. :smiley:

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Re: Indian team announced: Ganguly & Gambhir out

Yes, I am very pleased with the Team. Finally the selectors seem to have got it right. Hope the "boys" make me proud.

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Re: Indian team announced: Ganguly & Gambhir out

Very pleased with the team selection myself, as well. Good to see Piyush Chawla being given a real-world opportunity at-hand, as well as the inclusion of Wasim Jaffer.

Thankfully, Agarkar is left-out. Zaheer and VRV Singh could have been switched, I suppose. But nonetheless, a very eventful line-up that will hopefully produce consistency in the long run.

y do uncles like to bully lil kids
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Re: Indian team announced: Ganguly & Gambhir out

how come there's no word of Balajee and Nehra?

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Re: Indian team announced: Ganguly & Gambhir out

They are history. They need to work on their fitness and fielding and then perform in Ranji to get back in team. I think they are way behind the seamers list.. Here is the list

Pathan
Shreesanth
RP Singh
Zaheer Khan
Munaf Patel
VR Singh
Agarkar
Nehra
Balajee
SS Paul

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Re: Indian team announced: Ganguly & Gambhir out

I personally thought Ganguly showed enough gas in the tank during Karachi test. No?

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Re: Indian team announced: Ganguly & Gambhir out

I would agree with you. Yes, according from my point of view, he did.

Although I am not too keen on finding out how his 'presence' was bought by the dressing room throughout the test series (Rumors regarding opening batting combination, and things of that nature were continuously under scrutiny).

y do uncles like to bully lil kids
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Re: Indian team announced: Ganguly & Gambhir out

Yep... I agree... Selectors may be in for lots of protest if India lost and Kaif continued with his bad run.

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Re: Indian team announced: Ganguly & Gambhir out

Ganguly might have performed well in karachi but his presence disturbed the balance of the team and if he is not prepared to open the innings than he should face the consequences.

Overall a balanced squad.

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Re: Indian team announced: Ganguly & Gambhir out

He is ready to open. But selectors dont want makeshift opener and rightly so.
I thought if he deserved place then it has to be in place of injured Yuvraj,

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Re: Indian team announced: Ganguly & Gambhir out

That would be the time where Chappell himself will come into play, with his 'media-handling' skills......:p

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Re: Indian team announced: Ganguly & Gambhir out

Piyush Chawala to me is a surprise when you have Kumble and Harbi-Burpee, I think coz he has a good googly with his decent leg spin.

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Re: Indian team announced: Ganguly & Gambhir out

I am glad they gave Khaif another chance. He showed such promise. I love the idea of Sehwag+Sachin+Dravid followed by the Yuvraj+Khaif+Dhoni followed by Pathan+whoever+whoever+whoever. We do have to find a couple of good partners for Sehwag to open the inning. Wasim may be.

VVS, Raina and Ghambir need to be kept closeby and in touch for injury substitution.

Which brings us two things India has to seriously work on to be able to beat the Aussies:

  1. Sachin, Kumble exit strategy - who will replace them and when is the time right. IMO this is a decision that needs to be executed in two seasons or so.

  2. But most importantly, wtf are we going to do about a couple of real pacemen?

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Re: Indian team announced: Ganguly & Gambhir out

Plus he doesn't chuck.

Dau Pal from Veer Zara
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Re: Indian team announced: Ganguly & Gambhir out

If Mr.Wood lives in the woods and is a chucker would a woodchucker chuck wood in Mr'.Wood's woods?

Voting
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Re: Indian team announced: Ganguly & Gambhir out

He had gas in the tank alrite, but did not offer much by way of mileage.

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Re: Indian team announced: Ganguly & Gambhir out

piyush chawla is good .... not much experienced but talented youngster. I dont know why they are not selecting munaf.
No objection with the selection but i feel that selectors never prefer players from some state teams like Maharashtra.

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Re: Indian team announced: Ganguly & Gambhir out

Good team overall, if you look at batting lineup Wasim Jaffer, Virender Sehwag, Rahul Dravid (capt) Sachin Tendulkar, VVS Laxman, Mohammad Kaif, Suresh Raina, Than Ganguly doesn't have a place. All these guys have scroed runs in international or domestic cricket in tons, where Ganguly was picking and choosing the matches he wants to play.
Munaf Patel, after his good showing in match against England and not getting picked is a surprise.........

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Re: Indian team announced: Ganguly & Gambhir out

Wow, looking @ the squad of the Indian team, I think they got a very well balanced team. Also not to forget that Harbhajan is back and they added a youngster from the U19 team named Chawla. I think he might get a surprise debut in Nagpur.

On the other side, Ganguly is axed and I think that's the right decision by BCCI since his inclusion was making issues in the dressing room which in turn, gets the whole environment messy and leaves the fans cynical. The return of Sehwag and Bhajji should more than enough for Eng to have an alarm. I feel that India is going to miss Yuvraj as he is in super form but I think giving a chance to Kaif and Wasim Jaffer is fair enough. Jaffer had been with the squad for long and he deserves a chance and Kaif needs to get back and in rhythm and boy his fielding gets everyone moving. So, I think it's gonna be a good competition overall.
Regards

Umer

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Re: Indian team announced: Ganguly & Gambhir out

Wise decision by BCCI to kick Gangu out and give kaif an opportunity. I have always said the Yuvraj and kaif needs to play on permanent basis in Indian squad. They both are highly talented and gifted cricketers. See how Yuvraj has played recently once he got the confidence regarding his position in the squad. They need to do this with Kaif as well. I said it earlier as well and will say it again, Yuvraj and Kaif are much more dangerous players now for the opposition than Tendulkar and ganguly.