Sourav Ganguly was always first in line for the axe

New Delhi: The only time an Indian cricketer retires voluntarily is when he has scored a double-century in a charity game. So, the Board of Control for Cricket in India has its own version of the Compulsory Retirement Scheme — a rather brusque pointing of the finger at the exit door.

But given that it's done by the BCCI, it never has any real credibility, since the axe falls by name, not by performance, as the case is here. Sourav Ganguly was not selected for the Irani Trophy squad while Sachin Tendulkar was. Given that Ganguly didn't do as badly as Tendulkar in the recent past, it was more to do with who he was, rather than what he had done or not done.

But get one thing straight — this was going to happen, sooner or later. All of our senior players have been walking a tightrope for a while now, so it was just a matter of time before the selectors went ahead and sent them packing. But they will be sent packing by name, not performance.

We have often being castigated as doomsday forecasters, and abused for questioning the credentials of our greats, as also questioned, how come one series is enough to decide who should play or not? Fair question, but let me put it to you in another fashion — given the performances of the batsmen over the past two series, which of the Indian middle-order batsmen should have been shown the door?

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