Saurav Ganuli mentioned that Pakistan outplayed India. But on the contrary it is India that has some unnecessary overheads that is players just out of form. Induction of Dhoni made India win the last ODI. If you look at the scorecard you will see there are players in the Indian squad who are just out of form.
In ODI every batsman and every run counts. In that scenario Saurav Ganguli is now a burden for the team. May be he should be rested for a dew ODIs and new comers like Dhoni given some chance.
India’s miserable 213 all out could have been worse. Saurav Ganguli did a great job for the team and the Cricket Control Board must take into some hard look and bring in new comers to make sure future of Indian cricket is harvested.
According to Reuters, Pakistan bowler Rana Naved grabbed a career-best six-wicket haul and opener Salman Butt struck a century as Pakistan crushed India by 106 runs in the third one-day international on Saturday.
Butt slammed 10 fours in his 116-ball 101, sharing in a 145-run stand for the second wicket with Shoaib Malik (75) for the visitors, who now trail 2-1 in the six-match series.
Pakistan piled up 319 for nine after electing to bat on a flat wicket and then bowled India out for 213 in 41.4 overs, Naved ending with six for 27.
Naved struck a vital blow in the second over, having in-form opener Virender Sehwag caught for two as he cut straight to Afridi at point.
Mohammad Sami then dismissed Tendulkar for six, edging to second slip, before Naved ran through the Indian line-up, sending back Saurav Ganguly (4), Mahendra Dhoni (28 off 24 balls) and Yuvraj Singh (1) in quick succession to make it 66 for five.
Former India skipper Sourav Ganguly became the first casualty from the ‘Fab Four’ when the selectors ignored him for the Rest of India squad to play Ranji Trophy champions Delhi in the five-day Irani Trophy match at Baroda from September 24 to 28.
With Ganguly's omission, there is a huge question mark over his future in Test cricket. The selectors sprung a couple of surprises in the 14-member team, which has been termed as a virtual Test squad ahead of the forthcoming home series against Australia. Even as selectors ignored the likes of Yuvraj Singh and Rohit Sharma, they included rookie fast bowler Ashok Dinda and also gave opening batsman Wasim Jaffer a chance to make a comeback after not being considered for the Sri Lanka tour.
The selectors also raised a few eye brows by naming two wicketkeepers – Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Parthiv Patel – with the latter likely to open the batting with Mumbai opener Jaffer. Parthiv, who was not considered for Test selection after his disastrous performance in the Sydney Test in 2003-2004 until the recently concluded Sri Lanka series, failed to impress in the third and final Test in Colombo, which the Indians lost after pulling level at Dambula.
Dinda’s selection seems to be a fair one even though the Bengal lad’s chances of playing in the XI is low as Zaheer Khan, Munaf Patel and Rudra Pratap Singh have also been named in the 14. Dinda’s fine showing in the Indian Premier League (IPL) must have influenced his selection.
