Bengal Tiger on the verge of extinction??

Former Indian captain Saurav Ganguly failed to find a place in the Indian squad for the first test against England starting from the 1^st of next month. Young guns Sreesanth, VRV Singh, Piyush Chawla, Suresh Raina and Wasim Jaffer featured in the 15. This exclusion could spell disaster for Ganguly’s already frail career.

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Former Indian captain Saurav Ganguly failed to find a place in the Indian squad for the first test against England starting from the 1^st of next month. Young guns Sreesanth, VRV Singh, Piyush Chawla, Suresh Raina and Wasim Jaffer featured in the 15. This exclusion could spell disaster for Ganguly’s already frail career.

Announcing the 15 member squad today, the selection committee seemed to be in the favour of trying youngsters. VRV Singh, who was selected before too but couldn’t prove his fitness that time, faces another chance in the conventional form of the game.

17 years old, UP lad Piyush Chawla has been performing consistently in the domestic games lately which made him a face to reckon. He was one of the star performers in the recently concluded U-19 World Cup. Wasim Jaffer will serve as an opener giving Sehwag company.

Yuvraj Singh who will miss the first encounter due to a hamstring injury will be replaced by Kaif. Meanwhile, Harbhajan has also returned from his injury.

Others to face the axe are Gautam Gambhir, Zaheer Khan and Ajit Agarkar. The exit of Gambhir was on expected lines due to his poor performance in Pakistan.

Speaking after the meeting held at Baroda, the selection committee chairman More said that the team has been decided looking at the future.    

Team: Rahul Dravid (captain), Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, Wasim Jaffer, VVS Laxman, S Sreesanth, Mohd. Kaif, Suresh Raina, Irfan Pathan, Anil Kumble, M H Dhoni, Harbhajan Singh, R P Singh, VRV Singh, Piyush Chawla.