Sourav Ganguly

Mumbai: No surprise that former Team India captain Sourav Ganguly has found a place in one of the teams for the Challenger Trophy, but he can’t be too excited about being placed in Green, probably the weakest outfit on paper.

Having to play under Mohammed Kaif in the October 1-4 tournament, his job is well and truly cut out.

Incidentally, in a departure from convention, current captain Rahul Dravid was called for Tuesday’s selection committee meeting — the last with Kiran More (“no regrets”) as chairman. He had nothing to say about Sourav.

“Dravid reached (the CCI) a bit late and, by then, most of the players had been picked,” a source told The Telegraph. Barring Anil Kumble, who needs time to get absolutely fit, the remaining 29 Champions Trophy probables all found a place in one team or the other.

According to More, Sachin Tendulkar won’t be playing the Blues’ first match (on the opening day itself, versus Red) as he has sought “rest.”

Agencies add: Zaheer Khan, who has been out of the national team since the tour of Pakistan, has been selected in the India Red squad. Two other India pacers, Ashish Nehra and Laxmipathy Balaji, also returned after being selected in the India Green squad.

Yalaka Venugopala Rao will lead India Red.

The squads include quite a few junior cricketers, players who have excelled at the colts and A levels. Ravindra Jadeja finds a berth in the India Blue side while Rohit Sharma, Tejinder Pal Singh and C. Raghu have been included in the India Red team. Tanmany Srivastav and Praveen Kumar are in the India Red squad along with Bengal off-spinner Sourashish Lahiri.

"We went by the feedback given by Under-19 coach Lalchand Rajput and junior selection panel chief Praveen Amre," Kiran More explained.

THE SQUADS

India Blue: Rahul Dravid (captain), Virender Sehwag, Sachin Tendulkar, Yuvraj Singh, Dinesh Mongia, Wasim Jaffer, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Irfan Pathan, Harbhajan Singh, Ajit Agarkar, Munaf Patel, Rudra Pratap Singh, Ravindra Jadeja. Coach: Ian Frazer.

India Red: Yalaka Venugopal Rao (captain), Gautam Gambhir, Robin Uthappa, S. Badrinath, Rohit Sharma, Tejinder Pal Singh, Dinesh Karthik, VRV Singh, Sreesanth, Ramesh Powar, Zaheer Khan, Murali Kartik, C. Raghu. Coach: Robin Singh.

India Green: Mohammed Kaif (captain), Sourav Ganguly, VVS Laxman, Hemang Badani, Suresh Raina, Tanmay Srivastav, Piyush Chawla, Parthiv Patel, Ashish Nehra, Laxmipathy Balaji, Praveen Kumar, Reetinder Sodhi, Sourashish Lahiri. Coach: Lalchand Rajput.