Ganguly ushered into probables list

I got this movie theatre feeling when I came to know that Sourav Ganguly, currently plying his trade with Northamptonshire, had been included in India's list of 30 probables for the ICC Champions Trophy in October.

Surely it is no-one's case that he's in awesome form. For, if he had been, he'd have been picked for the one-dayers in Sri Lanka. In fact, he's far from being in form. His run of scores for Northants so far is at best a mixed bag, at worst it's downright pathetic.

First-class	Batting	2, 0, 6, 2, dnb, 5 (retd. hurt), 9	Bowling	0/23, 1/36, 1/29, 1/19, 0/24
C & G Trophy	Batting	71	Bowling	0/31
Pro-40	Batting	9	Bowling	0/34
Twenty20	Batting	15, 10, 44*, 73, 4, 17, 29, 23, 5	Bowling	2/36, 2/17, 1/21, 1/32, 2/20, 1/38, 1/18, 0/28, 1/39

It is interesting that he's snapping up a wicket almost every game in Twenty20. Clearly he loves bowling in it. But his batting strike rate in Twenty20 is only just over 100, obviously not enough for that form of the game.

I guess Northamptonshire would have been one of the counties which voted with its feet for the ECB's move to restrict counties to one overseas player only. At least they won't even think of Ganguly next season.

Which then brings me back to Kiran More's comment.

Every year we discuss various issues before picking a team. Here we just picked the best 30 that we have. He is in the list of Grade A players. So when we select 30 probables, he definitely walks in.

It almost sounds like charity. "This bloke is in only because he's in the Grade A list". Clearly there's no merit at play. I can't even understand why he is still in the Grade A category when he's far from being a first-choice pick.

Kiran More's statement makes me feel that the probables squad is like a dull, poorly lighted (because the movie has started) cinema hall where it will be impossible to find your alloted seat because you'll block everyone's view, and the first scene holds the key to the movie. The usherer has a torch which is just to looks at whether the person coming in has a ticket. He just waves the ticket holder on, as if to say "You have something that looks like a ticket. Go in and park yourself somewhere. We may evict you when there's an intermission though."

Oh, and by the way, VVS Laxman and Anil Kumble are also in the list. The squad also contains a few chaps who did quite well at the Under-19 World Cup and in the A-team games in Australia.