Ganguly plans to warm up, will lead President’s XI

Ganguly plans to warm up, will lead President’s XI
Express News Service

New Delhi, March 2: Criticised for his batting failure and poor captaincy in the first Test which Australia won convincingly by 10 wickets inside three days at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on Thursday, Saurav Ganguly has decided to get some more practice before the second Test which begins at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata on March 11.

The left-handed batsman will now lead the Board President’s XI against the Australians in the three-day warm-up game at the Ferozshah Kotla here from March six to eight. Delhi wicketkeeper Vijay Dahiya, originally named to lead the squad, will now be Ganguly’s deputy, according to BCCI vice-president CK Khanna.

‘‘Ganguly has been added to the squad to give him the much-needed match practice against the Australians. If he can spend a couple of hours in the middle, it would be useful for him. By leading the Board President’s XI, he will get an opportunity to think of some strategy to tackle the Australians,’’ one of the selectors said here.

The Australian cricketers, who are expected to land here from Mumbai on Sunday, may have their practice session at the Air Force Palam grounds onMonday morning.

Board President’s XI: Saurav Ganguly (captain), Vijay Dahiya (wk, vice-captain), Sridharan Sriram, Vinayak Mane, Mohd Kaif, Jacob Martin, Dinesh Mongia, Hrishikesh Kanitkar, Narendra Hirwani, Rakesh Patel, Surinder Singh Bagal, Sarandeep Singh, Jai Prakash Yadav, Gautam Gambhir, Romesh Powar.

Ranji Trophy ties put off

ALL the seven Ranji Trophy pre-quarter-final matches to be held in various centres round the country from March eight to 11 have been postponed in view of the fact that several players are members of the Board President’s XI that take on the Australians here from Tuesday.

Six of the seven matches (reigning champions Mumbai have got a bye directly into the quarter-finals) will now be held from March 10 to 13 at Mohali (Punjab vs Rajasthan), Guwahati (Assam vs Karnataka), Pune (Maharshtra vs Railways), Chennai (Delhi vs Tamil Nadu), Baroda (Bengal vs Baroda) and Indore (Madhya Pradesh vs Hyderabad).