The Sourav Ganguly chapter is never quite a done and dusted piece in the history of Indian cricket. He may have been left out of the Irani Trophy tie. But something says this may yet not be the last we have heard of him. This will perhaps be the first in many years that the Irani Trophy will be a must watch match in a cricket calendar for many. One beleaguered channel that has otherwise struggled to grab eyeballs will not mind it one bit.
That is the picture of Ganguly holding up the “man-of-the-match” trophy after the third cricket test match against South Africa in Kanpur in April earlier this year when India won the third and final test by eight wickets and retained their number two ranking in the world by squaring the series at one all. Now it must appear like distant memory.
Sri Lanka should measure their achievements at home by the manner in which they have rendered the Indian team home and sent them right back to domestic cricket. Look at the list of the players comprising the ‘Rest of India’ team and there is a reason to believe domestic cricket (notwithstanding the IPL) may have just got a shot in the arm. With the Champions trophy off the calendar for the year, suddenly Indian players who enjoyed immunity from domestic duties in previous years will now take the field and compete against another Indian side, the Delhi team on this occasion.
The Rest of India team reads like a who’s who of Indian cricket: Anil Kumble (capt), Sachin Tendulkar, Mahendra Singh Dhoni (wk), VVS Laxman, Rahul Dravid, Wasim Jaffer, Mohammad Kaif, Pragyan Ojha, Zaheer Khan, Munaf Patel, Parthiv Patel, RP Singh, Ashok Dinda, Harbhajan Singh.
If you are suddenly wondering why Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir and Ishant Sharma are missing, it is only because they will be sparring with the gentlemen otherwise seen in blue as they represent Delhi in the highly anticipated encounter.
Mohammad Kaif gets yet another look in while Yuvraj Singh will only be doing the watching from the sidelines, sidelined by injuries as well as poor form when it comes to the Test version. A fitter Sachin Tendulkar means he will be taking a level playing field to refute allegations of preferential treatment being accorded to only two of the aged five. The focus has perceptibly shifted from a probably though unlikely opportunity for Parthiv Patel and newcomer Ashoke Dinda, one lad from Bengal who would have perhaps wanted Ganguly, his skipper for the Kolkata Knight Riders, to be around a little while longer.
Yet the most ridiculousness of the Ganguly dropping affair is the reason behind it: his age. The skipper Anil Kumble was undoubtedly a party to picking this team. Wonder how many candles are blowing atop his cake! One gets the feeling that instead of taking hard measures, the officials are more than happy to let things slip and slide away on their own. While Tendulkar has a fortunate excuse of injury in Sri Lanka, Dravid and Laxman had marginal reprieves with single innings successes, Ganguly may be paying the price for being the last man in the line. It would also be curious to know what Gary Kirsten is thinking at this point in time, knowing he supports Kumble in his decision to drop Ganguly but perhaps he would just as willing be happy to tow the line when the opportunity to pick Dhoni over Kumble as skipper of the Indian team came along.
With the seniors unwilling to play a part in the succession policy, the drops are going to be thuds. But the danger is that one flop from the nervous young ones could well open the door again – the one time when the exit door opens inwards. As a precaution, word has it that this omission is not by any stretch of the imagination end of the road for Ganguly. In fact he could walk straight back into the team when Australia take on India on the 9th of the next month. In the mean time, Ganguly can cool his heels, pray and perhaps even join Andrew Symonds on a round of fishing (though the latter is far less likely to happen than lightning striking at the same spot twice).
The aged middle order circus has been long anticipated to pack up. But the white elephant (don’t have to look up the meaning: common phrase has it as something rather useless but yet priceless for the owner to actually get rid of it) of Indian cricket has also blocked the much needed progress of the team looking into the future. Every time the claws come out, they seem to sink deeper in the skin of India’s former successful skipper. But how far behind are the rest of the men on the frontlines?

To read more on the situation that has developed in the Indian dressing room, read
Part One: Pampered and Spoilt: When Cricketers Become Politicians and Celebrities 314599