Deep and his Dada

As speculations of Sourav Ganguly's return to international cricket reach a crescendo Deep Dasgupta, his successor to Bengal captaincy, says:

"Ganguly`s presence would have made a difference to us with both the bat and the ball. But as a Bengali and a fellow cricketer I will be happy if he is selected for the South Africa tour."

I hope the BCCI wakes up from a slumber and sends an urgent fax to him that goes:

*****

Hi Deep

We all are happy with that show of camaraderie from you. But we would be happier if you could get yourself prepared and in shape to come along with him as a specialist opener. We are not joking, Deep. You are one of the only three or four Indian batsmen to have represented India in the last decade who do not poke at outside-off-stump deliveries on bouncy pitches.

One - Rahul Dravid - is already there; the second, Akash Chopra seems to have gone out of the radars of some of us. Sanjay Bangar, the third, is too inconsistent to be awarded a return to Test cricket. That leaves you as our only option as a second opener, just in case Wasim Jaffer is unable to cure himself of his off-stump wafts by the time the 3-day tour game draws to a close.

We wish you to go easy on your Bengal Ranji skipper's duties for a while and align your thoughts and batting game for joining your Dada in the very near future. We hope you can repeat your doughty acts in the same land during the 2001 tour.

Yours truly

xxxxxx
BCCI

PS: If you are picked, you shall play only as a specialist opening batsman. No keeping job shall be assigned to you on this tour.

******

Just as I am putting that wish to words, the second big news of the day arrives (1st one: Mohammad Yousuf breaking Viv Richards' 30 year old record for most test runs in a calendar year). Here's an excerpt from a Zee News report:

National selectors on Thursday recalled Ganguly for the Indian Test team to play against South Africa. Sourav last played for India in the Karachi Test against Pakistan in early 2006. .....VVS Laxman has been made the vice captain in place of Sehwag.

Sixteen member team for SA Test series: Rahul Dravid(C), VVS Laxman(VC), V Sehwag, Sachin Tendulkar, Gautam Gambhir, Wasim Jaffer, M S Dhoni, Sourav Ganguly, Dinesh Karthick, Munaf Patel, Zaheer Khan, S Sreesanth, VRV Singh, Irfan Pathan, Harbhajan Singh, Anil Kumble.