The Hindu : Sport : Selectors have a tough task on hand

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Aug 12, 2005

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Sport

Selectors have a tough task on hand

G. Viswanath

Mumbai: The five national selectors — Kiran More (Chairman), Pronob Roy, V.B. Chandrasekhar, Yashpal Sharma and Gopal Sharma — meet here on Friday afternoon to name India's captain for the forthcoming one-month tour of Zimbabwe. They would be looking at two contenders. The first one is of course Sourav Ganguly, who must be eager to get back the top post. The second is his deputy for many years, Rahul Dravid, who was at the helm for the IndianOil Cup tri-series in Sri Lanka.

For five years, after Sachin Tendulkar of his own volition decided to vacate the hot seat, following the two-Test series against Hansie Cronje's South Africa, selection committees found it easy to name Sourav Ganguly as the skipper. And the Ganguly saga continued for 47 Tests and 141 one-day Internationals, with Dravid stepping in only when Ganguly was either injured or was penalised by the ICC for breaching the Players' Code of Conduct.

Ganguly looked the part as a leader of men, won admirers within the ranks and by thousands outside of it, but blotted his copybook by violating the playing conditions to earn the wrath of the International Cricket Council (ICC).

It became one too many when he was held responsible for the slow over rate by Match Referee Chris Broad in the fourth one-day International against Pakistan at Ahmedabad and was banned for six one-day Internationals. Though the ICC permitted him to figure in the last two ODIs at Kanpur and Delhi after he and the BCCI appealed to the ICC Appeals commissioner, the left-hander did not play in those two matches.

Stopgap measure

With the ICC reducing the six-match ban to four, Ganguly got a chance to return during the IndianOil Cup and play under Rahul Dravid. On the face of it, Dravid's appointment as captain was seen as a stopgap measure because Ganguly was serving the ban. However, sources in the BCCI felt that the selectors will be given a free hand to name the captain for the tour of Zimbabwe.

According to a selector, the captaincy issue will be discussed threadbare and the committee will consider cricketing merit and the long-term prospect of a candidate lasting till the 2007 World Cup. There's also a possibility of a suggestion being made to divide responsibilities and have different captains for the ODIs and Tests. Coach Greg Chappell has not been invited for the meeting on Friday, but he's likely to talk to Kiran More who cancelled his visit to Sri Lanka because of his daughter's illness. Chappell's report on the IndianOil Cup and inputs might be useful for the selectors.

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