Ganguly wanted Robin Singh in the team
There is every possibility that the young talented opener from Orissa, Shiv Sundar Das will play his first one day international at Cuttack against Zimbabwe on December 2
Sakyasen Mittra
29-Nov-2000
There is every possibility that the young talented opener from Orissa,
Shiv Sundar Das will play his first one day international at Cuttack
against Zimbabwe on December 2. The Indian skipper Saurav Ganguly
wants to include Das in the side to strengthen the batting. However,
the number at which he will bat is yet to be decided. According to
information available from sources close to the team, Das may bat at
either number three or five.
The source also disclosed that even though Ganguly wanted to retain
the Tamil Nadu all-rounder Robin Singh in the side, he could not do so
because three of the selectors were against his inclusion. The three
felt that age has finally caught up with Robin Singh and that
Reetinder Singh Sodhi, the young cricketer from Punjab would be a
better investment. Ganguly had stated during the meeting of the
selection committee that Robin Singh had performed well above
expectations in the limited opportunities that he had. However, the
selectors informed him that they wanted to include fresh blood and
that Sodhi would be a better choice than Robin. However, this does not
mean that Singh's one day career is as good as over. Simply because,
if Sodhi fails to perform, there is a possibility of Singh getting a
recall. It was Robin's bowling that went against his ouster from the
side. The selectors felt that at his pace Robin Singh would not be
able to trouble the Zimbabwe cricketers on the home made batting
wickets.
Even though the selectors did not agree with Ganguly on the Robin
Singh issue, they did so as far as Nikhil Chopra was concerned.
Ganguly told the selectors that since Chopra had been proved innocent
in the match-fixing scandal, he should be included in the side,
especially as Chopra had always bowled well in one-dayers. The
selectors readily agreed. Other than that most of team more or less
selected themselves.