Chief Selector Kiran More

Vadodara: Former captain Sourav Ganguly, seamers Ajit Agarkar, Zaheer Khan and opening batsman Gautam Gambhir have been dropped from the 15-member Indian squad which was announced on Thursday for the first Test against England in Nagpur. The national selectors, led by Kiran More, included 18-year-old rookie leg-spinner Piyush Chawla and fast bowler Vikram Rajvir Singh. Allrounder Suresh Raina, Sreesanth and Mohammed Kaif have also been picked.

[The Telegraph had named Suresh Raina and Sreesanth in the XIV on Thursday, while Chawla was ‘picked’ as the 15th member and VRV Singh as dark horse].

Chief selector More said the squad has been selected keeping the future of Indian cricket in mind.

“I think we have done very well in one-dayers from which some new faces have emerged. The Board has decided to give these youngsters a chance, it is a very important move for us,” More said after a marathon selection committee meeting here on Thursday.

Asked about the reasons for axing Sourav, More said, “This committee does not want to discuss this issue again. We have the tour of West Indies coming up, there are other series coming up, and the World Cup is in 2007. We want the Test and the one-day squads to be as similar as possible.”

More, who had maintained all along that the doors had not been shut on any player, was more categorical in his approach on Thursday.

“It was a tough call (to drop Soruav). I have gone through such a circumstance. Any body who has played for India, whether it is one Test or 100, and given 100 per cent, it is a honour and that honour is respected,” he said.

Asked further about Sourav’s exclusion, a slightly irritated More said, “We did not discuss only one individual. There are 15 players, why don’t you ask about Dhoni who has performed very well?”

The former wicketkeeper said the selectors had spoken to captain Rahul Dravid, who endorsed the squad.

“We spoke to Dravid. He had some ideas and he said he was happy about it (selection),” More said.

On why the meeting took so much time, the chief selector said, “We also discussed the Pakistan tour and all the departments of our game.”

More also justified Gambhir’s exclusion.

“He has not performed well recently so we decided to give Jaffer a chance. Sehwag and Jaffer will be our specialist openers, we will definitely give Jaffer a go (in the first Test).”

Chawla, one of the four new faces, was rewarded for his performance in the recent under-19 World Cup in Colombo.

More said Chawla, who was picked ahead of Murali Kartik as the third spinner, was a talent to look out for.

“He is talented and has done outstandingly well in the domestic circuit. The way he bowled and batted in the U-19 final should say something about him,” the former India stumper said.

He said the opener’s slot was an area of concern for the team.

“We had given Gambhir a lot of opportunities. He appears to have lost his confidence. That is why we have picked Jaffer, who is a specialist opener,” he said.

For the batting line up, the names of Venugopal Rao, Cheteshwar Pujara and Aakash Chopra were discussed, More said.

On including Sreesanth and VRV Singh in place of Zaheer Khan and Ajit Agarkar, More said, “We are creating space for youngsters.”

Meanwhile, the BCCI on Thursday said Sourav’s chances of making it to the national side were remote, adds another report from New Delhi.

BCCI secretary Niranjan Shah told a news channel on Thursday: “Selection committee says it wants to look towards the future. This is what More has said in his press conference. I think Sourav now has a slim chance to play in future.”