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Selection Indian selectors on Wednesday announced the names of the 15 members of the Indian Test Squad for the the first two test matches against Australia. The selection committee is headed by Krishnamachari Srikanth which selected the 15 players for the four-Test series. The first test will be played on October 9-13 in Bangalore. Remaining three matches will be played in Mohali, Delhi and Nagpur. Former Indian captain Saurav Ganguly has been retained in the 15-member squad. He is one of four veteran Indian batsmen who are under tremendous pressure to save their places in the team. The other three are master blaster Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and Vangipurappu Laxman.

Side Middle-order batsman Subramaniam Badrinath and leg spinner Amit Mishra have been included in the team. They have been called in side as the replacement of batsman Rohit Sharma and left-spinner Pragyan Ojha. ODI and 20T skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni has also returned to the side. He has not played in the previous test series in Sri Lanka which India had lost by 2-1.

Speculations The previous selection headed by Dilip Vengasarkar had ignored Ganguly for the Irani Cup. His omission from the side had been widely criticized. It must be learnt that he is the most successful captain of the Indian team. Under his leadership India has won many series. When he was ignored for the Irani Cup then there were speculations with rumors that he will quit the game if he is omitted from the national side. This 36 years old former Indian captain will be under tremendous pressure as this probably would be his last chance to prove his worth. He had stormed into the Indian side with a debut ton at the Lord’s in 1996. He had lost his place in the side because of his fall-out with the then coach Grag Chappel but had again stormed into the side in South Africa in late 2006.

Exit After his return to the side he had made 1100 runs which includes the 239 runs against Pakistan in Bangalore in late 2007. After Sachin Tendulkar he is the most successful Indian Batsman. His inclusion into the team has surprised most of the people. But some people have taken his selection as an opportunity given to him to get an ‘honorable exit’ from the side.