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| Sourav Ganguly at
the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore on Saturday. (PTI)
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Calcutta: Thanks chiefly
to Greg Chappell and Kiran More, Sourav Ganguly hardly wore
the Team India colours in 2005-06.
That, however, didn’t stop
the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) president,
Sharad Pawar, from insisting that he be retained as a grade
A player in the contracts’ list for the 2006-07 season.
The fresh gradations, actually
effective from October 1, 2006, were announced on Saturday.
On the face of it, it may not
mean much as the contracts will be negotiated afresh within
a few months, but the gradations committee (Pawar, secretary
Niranjan Shah and chief selector Dilip Vengsarkar) has given
Sourav the respect he deserves.
It won’t go unnoticed.
“When the statistics were
placed before Mr Pawar, he felt there was no reason to downgrade
Sourav… He went to the extent of wondering whether he had
to be penalised for not being picked… Mr Pawar also spoke
about Sourav’s seniority,” a top BCCI source told
The Telegraph late at night.
In power from end-2005, Pawar
has mostly been taking a pro-Sourav line.
For the record, India’s most
successful Test captain only played four Tests (average
of 31.00) between October 1, 2005 and September 30, 2006.
As for ODIs, he wasn’t selected for even one!
Since then, of course, Sourav
has been phenomenal: An average of 63.63 in ODIs and 42.75
in Tests.
Vengsarkar, though, didn’t
go into details of the intra-committee discussions.
“There’s a criteria
in place… Grading players isn’t about personal likes
or dislikes… Both seniority and performance count,”
he said.
While Yuvraj Singh and Mahendra
Singh Dhoni have been promoted to grade A, four — V.V.S.Laxman,
Harbhajan Singh, Virender Sehwag and Irfan Pathan — have
been demoted to B.
Out totally are Mohammed Kaif
(grade B) and Murali Kartik (grade C).
The last list, for 2005-06, had
been announced in December 2005.
Given the sorry state they find
themselves in, more bad news probably awaits Harbhajan,
Sehwag and Pathan.
It’s possible that the contracts
will continue to be graded. In that case, Pathan is unlikely
to figure anywhere. As for Harbhajan and Sehwag, both could
drop to grade C.
Also in trouble is Chappell’s
blue-eyed boy, Suresh Raina, who is recovering from surgery.
Even the injury-prone Munaf Patel.
Assuming the existing structure
stays, good news should come the way of Zaheer Khan and
Dinesh Karthik.
CONTRACTED PLAYERS
Grade A (Rs 50 lakh retainership):
Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Yuvraj
Singh, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Anil Kumble.
Grade B (Rs 35 lakh retainership):
V.V.S. Laxman, Virender Sehwag, Harbhajan Singh, Ajit Agarkar,
Irfan Pathan.
Grade C (Rs 20 lakh retainership):
Wasim Jaffer, Gautam Gambhir, Suresh Raina, Zaheer Khan,
Sreesanth, Munaf Patel. |
