Ganguly left out of Irani squad

The national selectors on Monday announced a virtual Test side barring Sourav Ganguly for the Rest of India squad that will take on Delhi in the season opening Irani Trophy match to be played from 24th September in Baroda.

The squad is heavily loaded with Test veterans and will be headed by the present Indian Test captain Anil Kumble. However as a big surprise Sourav Ganguly - India's most successful Test captain till date was left out from the 15-member list. Ganguly is already out of the ODI team and being dropped from the squad is a big setback considering the team for the Test series is likely to be picked after evaluating the performances in the Irani game.

The elegant left-hander had a dry run in the recently concluded 3-match Test series in Sri Lanka, averaging just 16 from six innings with a top score of only 35. Ironically, the last time most Test players featured in the Irani Trophy was in 2003-04 and Sourav Ganguly was named captain of the Rest of India team.

The selectors also left out Yuvraj Singh and Rohit Sharma who were part of the Test squad in Sri Lanka. Mohammad Kaif, who was captain of the Rest of India squad last season has been included courtesy his knock of 94 last week in a three-day game against an Australia A side.

Wasim Jaffer was dropped from the Test team after a prolonged dismal run which continued in Australia too earlier this year. The right-hander from Mumbai could manage just 175 runs in his last 11 innings. However, he turned out to be the obvious choice for the opener's role as both the current Indian openers - Sehwag and Gambhir play for Delhi.

It will be interesting to see who opens with Jaffer as Parthiv Patel has been chosen as the second wicketkeeper alongside MS Dhoni, who was also named as Kumble's deputy. Parthiv got the nod ahead of Dinesh Karthik.

The strong middle order comprises of Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman and Sachin Tendulkar, who had already declared himself fit for the tie.

Zaheer Khan will most likely share the new ball with Munaf Patel, and RP Singh is picked as the third seamer. Young Prgyan Ojha is included in the side as the third spinner along with spin twins Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh.

There has a been a common complaint of the Indian cricket fans that the national players don't play in the domestic tournaments but the Irani Trophy will give them a rare opportunity to catch their favourite stars in action. The 5-day match is seen as the ideal warm-up for India's players before the first Test against Australia, which starts in Bangalore from October 9.

Rest of India Squad
Anil Kumble (captain),Sachin Tendulkar,Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman, Wasim Jaffer, MS Dhoni, Mohammad Kaif, Harbhajan Singh, Pragyan Ojha, Zaheer Khan, Munaf Patel, RP Singh, Parthiv Patel, Ashok Dinda