'Ganguly's selection, India's Achilles heel'

     Karachi: Former Pakistani players have said that the selection of former Indian cricket team skipper Sourav Ganguly would go in Pakistan's favour. Many former players have said that Ganguly's selection in the team would cause friction in the Indian dressing room team as neither was team skipper Rahul Dravid nor coach Greg Chappell in favour of his inclusion in the team. "It is no secret that neither the Indian captain Rahul Dravid nor their coach Greg Chappell wanted him in the team. Then he has been preferred over someone like Mohammad Kaif who has been doing well for them recently. It's obvious that his presence in the dressing room will not be the best thing for their team spirit in Pakistan," The News quoted a former Pakistan Test player as saying.

    Former Pakistan Test team skipper Mushtaq Mohammad said that Ganguly himself would be under pressure to perform, given the circumstances under which he had been selected for the tour. "I don't know but it appears as they've problems there over his selection. And I think Ganguly himself will be under a lot of pressure to perform now given the circumstances in which he has been selected for the Pakistan tour," said Mushtaq Mohammad. "I don't know but all the signs are there that the Indian team which tours Pakistan this year and the one that came last year and won in Pakistan are going to be two different outfits," said Rashid Khan, another former Test player.

    A former player said that since Ganguly had been captain for a long period of time and enjoyed absolute power and authority as captain, it would be a little difficult for him to adjust to the new surroundings. "How he is going to adjust now to the changed circumstances where he knows the captain and coach are not in his favour will be interesting to see. But this tension will only benefit Pakistan team which is now a united outfit under Inzamam-ul-Haq," he said. Mushtaq said that Ganguly's selection was more a political appeasement rather than anything else and it would be "interesting to see where they bat him in the Tests given that Sehwag, Tendulkar Dravid, Laxman and Yuvraj Singh have all scored runs". "They also included two other openers in Gautam Gambhir and Wasim Jaffer," Mushtaq said.