01-Oct-2008 97
Former captain Sourav Ganguly`s floundering Test career was today given a fresh lease of life when he was named in India`s 15-member squad for the first two Tests against Australia starting October 9.
Ignoring the previous selection committee`s stand on the elegant left-hander, the new team of selectors -- headed by former captain Krishnamachari Srikkanth -- included the 36-year-old Ganguly in the squad which also has Tamil Nadu batsman S Badrinath and Delhi leg-spinner Amit Mishra as the two new faces.
However, middle-order batsman Yuvraj Singh was ignored yet again for the longer version of the game. Four players from the 16-strong Test squad to Sri Lanka -- wicket-keepers Dinesh Kaarthick and Parthiv Patel, Rohit Sharma and Pragyan Ojha -- were also omitted.
The team:
Anil Kumble (capt)
Virender Sehwag
Gautam Gambhir
Rahul Dravid
Sachin Tendulkar
Sourav Ganguly
VVS Laxman
Mahendra Singh Dhoni
Harbhajan Singh
Zaheer Khan
Ishant Sharma
Munaf Patel
RP Singh
S Badrinath
Amit Mishra