Ganguly axed: Not justified but not unfair either

Sourav Ganguly is at a dead-end. He, in all likelihood, will be dropped from India's Test squad.

Is it fair? There are two ways to look at it.

In terms of statistics or in purely cricketing context, Ganguly deserves a chance or for that matter, quite few of them.

Let's go by the facts first.

If Sachin Tendulkar's heroic performances in the CB series are claimed as reasons not to axe him before Ganguly, then the Bengal player's determined knock in the last Test before India toured Sri Lanka should also have been taken into account. India won that Test in Kanpur largely because of Ganguly.

And Tendulkar was the lowest scorer among the six Indian batsmen in Sri Lanka. Yes, lower than Ganguly.

If Rahul Dravid's consistency and 'the wall' status keep him in the side, then Ganguly being the world's second highest scorer in 2007 and the highest amongst the Indians also should have also been kept in mind.

Some say Ganguly may have the runs behind him but he is not the same player. But so aren't Tendulkar and Dravid.

Some say nobody can replace a Tendulkar or a Dravid. Can anybody replace a Ganguly?

Amongst the 'fab four' Ganguly should not be the first to be dropped. But that's purely in terms of numbers. And cricket is more than numbers.

The selectors and the Indian management plan to drop the seniors one by one. Ganguly was the first maybe because he is a soft target.

He obviously doesn't have many friends amongst the people who make the big decisions behind the closed doors. And Ganguly shouldn't be blaming anybody else but himself.

As the captain of the Indian team, Ganguly's somewhat disdainful behaviour and contemptuous decisions have now come back to haunt him. What he did to many when he had the power is now boomeranging on him.

His "my way or the highway" attitude might have done made him the most successful Indian skipper but in hindsight it seems it also has spelled doomsday for him as a player.

Ganguly had a huge responsibility when he became captain and he decided to blood youngsters to rebuild the faith of the nation, which was under complete shock after the match fixing controversy.

Seniors were out and names like Sehwag, Yuvraj, Harbhajan featured in the Indian line-up.

That was 2000 and eight years later, Dada finds himself in a similar situation but this time on the other side of the fence. He is now a 'senior.' Somebody else is calling the shots. And he can do nothing but swallow the bitter pill.

It is true what goes around, comes around. Sourav Ganguly now knows that. MS Dhoni should remember that.