TWO WRONGS MAKING A RIGHT

Kiran More was not very reliable with the wicketkeeping gloves in his playing days. After all, he was the man who made Graham Gooch a great player. In that match, More grassed a chance and the English opener went to score the highest number of runs in a test match.

It came as no surprise that the Chairman of selectors went on to justify the selection of Saurav Ganguly on the ground that the former Indian captain was needed for his all-round ability. More than a few questions were raised considering the exclusion of Ganguly from the one day team where his all-round skills are more helpful for the team.

Now, when Saurav put up a good show in the second test, the selectors dropped him in favour of Wasim Jaffer who to nobody's surprise hails from the new power centre of Indian cricket, Mumbai. Of course, More can now claim that the selection of Ganguly for the first two test matches was beyond his control with pressure from some members of the selection panel. This time with a more friendly panel, More can be proud of having corrected the mistake. Talk about two wrongs making a right.

It is people like More backed by the likes of Raj Singh Dungarpur who give Indian cricket the bad name that it has. To my surprise the role of More was not investigated in the Abhijit Kale episode.

The exclusion of Ganguly and the inclusion of Jaffer in the team for the third test is something that is going to please people like Ravi Shastri. The former player had always expressed his dislike for Ganguly the captain. He always cited the case of Australia and tried to pretend like an Australian with borrowed phrases and accent.
If domestic performances are any yardstick for selection, then what about Zaheer Khan? Is the left arm paceman given ignored because he does not play for Mumbai? Does Ajit Agarkar continue in the squad for being a part of the Mumbai team?

A couple of months back, Saurav Ganguly was a hated figure and now he has become a martyr or even a saint. Kiran More and his backers deserve all the credit for this amazing transformation.