Ganguly and Pathan picked for Kanpur Test

Sourav Ganguly and Irfan Pathan have been picked in India's 14-man squad to play South Africa in the first Test at Kanpur on November 20. Both players missed the last two Tests against Australia, but regained their fitness in time to play the BCCI Platinum Jubilee one-dayer against Pakistan at Kolkata today.

Dheeraj Jadhav and SS Paul are the two men omitted. Jadhav and Paul were among four newcomers in the Mumbai Test squad: they sat out that game, but will no doubt take satisfaction from knowing that they are next in line, and this queue does not stay still.

The big question now is, who will Ganguly replace in the Test side? Mohammad Kaif is the obvious candidate, but his battling performances against Australia might be enough for him to retain his place. Gautam Gambhir will, in that case, miss out, with either Kaif or Dinesh Karthik being promoted as a makeshift opener.

Squad Sourav Ganguly (capt), Gautam Gambhir, Virender Sehwag, Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman, Sachin Tendulkar, Mohammad Kaif, Dinesh Karthik (wk), Anil Kumble, Harbhajan Singh, Murali Kartik, Zaheer Khan, Irfan Pathan, Ashish Nehra.