I am a little worried about our batting opening combination  for tomorrow's match. Gambhir's future as a member of the ODI cannot, obviously, be decided on the basis of one match, but he looked in poor nick. Thinking about it last night, a thought occured to me. How about bringing Saurav to open with Sachin for the remaining ODIs ? Surprised ? It actually may not be such a bad idea if you look at it dispassionately.

We need to win one of the remaining two ODI's. We have a situation where Gambhir looks out of touch and we have just five other  batsmen - Sachin, Dravid, Yuvraj, Kaif and Raina. There are some rumours about Dravid not being fully fit either. In this situation, bringing Saurav for the remaining ODIs is not totally unreasonable. What if one of the remaining players gets injured in tomorrow's game ? Of course, the team does have the option of bringing Dhoni or Pathan up the order but we would still be a batsman short. Saurav has played during this series and has some feel for the conditions. He formed one of the most successful opening pairs in ODIs with Sachin and has the experience of playing in tinder box like pressure that the games are going to be played under.

There is, of course, absolutely no chance of that happening. Since the moment Saurav let himself, the team and Indian cricket down at that fateful press conference in Bulawayo, his inclusion was never going to be a purely cricketing decision. What followed after his exclusion from the team only reinforced and cemented that outcome.

I am on record for having said that the Chief Minister of Bengal, sundry politicians, the Banana Boys ( Archives - Banana Boys ), the people of Kolkata at Eden Gardens that booed the national team and held disgusting posters denigrating Greg and Rahul Dravid ( Why him, you idiots ? ) and the lumpen elements that stopped trains and slapped Kiran More's effigy with shoes, have all harmed Saurav and Indian cricket ( Archives - A national disgrace - 27 Nov. 05). They have had their day in the sun, particularly the mutually back slapping politicians, but Saurav is  paying the price for it.

Think like a selector yourself. A millisecond after you think -  Should we consider Saurav for the next two games ? , will come the thought, What if ?

What if he comes and scores a good forty or fifty ? Ha, Ha! Will we be able to drop him  when Sehwag  comes back ? Will Kolkata go up in flames again ? Will I be crucified by  sundry pundits ? Will the matter be dragged into Parliament ? Will I see my effigy being slapped with shoes by school children ( I am yet to reconcile myself to that sight). Will  my effigy  be burned to cheers from  onlookers ?

Well, another millisecond and the thought perishes. You move on to more pleasant thoughts. Obviously, it shouldn't be this way. But you are dealing with human beings and they do not live in a vacuum. If you still believe that these things do not affect the selectors, you have probably never ventured outside your home!

In the process, Saurav ends up being the biggest loser. I feel bad but I cannot say that I feel very sorry for him. A large part of this is self inflicted. I also feel that he could and should have played a more public role in cooling  passions aroused by his exclusion from the team. As in most things in life, you may not get the credit or reward for doing the right thing, but you are rarely spared punishment for your wrongs. 

I do not think that he is good enough for a place in either the test or ODI team, simply because we have six batsmen better than him in  either squad. How good or bad he is, then, really doesn't matter. Plus , there is the need to groom a new generation of players. The team is rightly looking forward and grooming youngsters. But there may have been an opportunity for him to serve the team now, albeit as a stop gap arrangement. This will  be ignored because of all the baggage that now comes with all cricketing decisions involving Saurav Ganguly. 

What if he had gracefully stepped down from captaincy of his own accord and offered to serve the team as a committed player, without Bulawayo and all the hysteria that followed ? Would things have been different ? I personally do not think so, but, who knows ?