Pressure "from the top" pushed Ganguly in for Pakistan Test by AFP

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Ground:	Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore
Player:	SC Ganguly
Event:	India in Pakistan 2005/06

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DateLine: 13th January 2006

 

Sourav Ganguly was included in the Indian team for the first Test against Pakistan here on Friday due to pressure from cricket board chiefs, a team source told AFP.

 

Coach Greg Chappell and captain Rahul Dravid did not want Ganguly to open the innings and could not fit him in the middle-order either without disturbing a trusted combination.

 

But team manager Raj Singh Dungarpur, under instructions from the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), is understood to have spoken to Chappell and urged him to field the experienced Ganguly for the match.

 

"The manager was asked to convince Chappell to play Ganguly," the source said, declining to reveal which BCCI official wanted the former captain in.

 

"All I can say is there was pressure from the top to include Ganguly because of his vast experience."

 

The left-hander was preferred over two regular openers, Gautam Gambhir and Wasim Jaffar, but there is no certainty that Ganguly will open the innings with Virender Sehwag.

 

Dravid himself or Irfan Pathan, who opened in the second Test against Sri Lanka in New Delhi last month, could partner Sehwag at the start, the source said.

 

There was no immediate need to make a decision as Pakistan captain Inzamam-ul Haq won the toss and elected to bat at the Gaddafi stadium.

 

Chappell had told a media conference on Tuesday that two batsmen between Sehwag, Gambhir and Jaffar would open the innings.

 

"Any two of the three will play because all three are in good form," he had said.

 

During pre-match training on Friday morning, Dravid, Chappell and Ganguly were seen having a heated argument in the middle, apparently over the batting order.

 

"We were talking cricket," Chappell told reporters after the first day's play. "I don't know why you are reading so much into it.

 

"Yes, we do have three openers in the squad but we have tried to put the best batting order in the match taking into account the playing conditions and experience."

 

The 33-year-old Ganguly, a veteran of 86 Tests with 5,150 runs under his belt, was a controversial selection for the Pakistan tour.

 

When India dropped Ganguly for the third Test against Sri Lanka last month, it created such a public outcry that cricket board chiefs were forced to step in to cool tempers.

 

Indian cricket board president Sharad Pawar met Ganguly and senior players like Sachin Tendulkar before declaring that India's most successful Test captain was not a "disruptive influence" in the team.

 

Chappell, who had accused Ganguly of just that in a leaked e-mail to the previous regime in Indian cricket, took the hint and did not oppose the left-hander's selection for the tour.

 

Ganguly, India's most successful Test captain with 21 wins, was sacked from the job after the spat with Chappell in October and removed from the one-day squad.

 

There was no official comment from the Indian team on the composition for the first Test here.

(Article: Copyright © 2006 AFP)