Is the Bombay Club Back?

Finally, less than a month after Sharad Pawar assumed office as bcci boss, Wasim Jaffer finds justice. After spending more than three years in the wilderness of domestic cricket, he has been offered the chance to extend his international career beyond the seven Tests he played between February 2000 and August 2002.

The national selectors, led by chairman Kiran More, backtracked in including the 27-year-old Mumbaikar as reserve opener in the squad of 15 for the final Test against Sri Lanka in Ahmedabad. Earlier, he didn't even find a place among the 36 probables in the pre-season training camp at Bangalore. When vice-captain Virender Sehwag reported sick before the second game in Delhi, India had to open with Rahul Dravid in the first innings and Irfan Pathan in the second. Of course, Jaffer is in good form, having scored 666 runs in six first-class matches this season. He has proved himself as one of the most compact opening batsmen in the country. So, he can be said to have forced his way into the squad by dint of his performance alone.

And as the door opened for Jaffer, it closed for the 33-year-old former Indian skipper Sourav Ganguly. His determined innings of 40 and 39 in India's win over Sri Lanka in Delhi were not enough to move the selectors to retain him. Yuvraj Singh's classy unbeaten 77 settled the argument in his favour. "Yuvraj has performed outstandingly in the one-day series and in the Delhi Test," said Kiran More. "We did not want Sourav at No. 6 because Yuvraj will play there. He has been consistent and we want to give him more opportunities. It's not done to have Sourav in the squad and not have him in the playing eleven. We are also keeping the future in mind."

So, Ganguly goes into a limbo. It has been a short hop from being captain of Team India on the Zimbabwe tour a couple of months ago to losing his place in both forms of the game.