I wanted to play one-dayers till September - Ganguly

Dropped for the ongoing CB Series in Australia, Indian batsman Sourav Ganguly has revealed that he had planned to continue playing one-dayers for another seven to eight months before taking a call on his future. He also considered the fact that he didn't see himself realistically continuing till the 2011 World Cup.

"They (the selectors) just asked me whether I wanted to continue one-day cricket," Ganguly told Times Now, an Indian news channel. "I said, 'yes definitely, at least for the next 7-8 months.'

"So I wanted to play till September, then probably take a call because at some stage you would not have gone on to play the 2011 World Cup.

"There is not much of one-day cricket this year. There is the Australia series, then India go to Sri Lanka for Tests and one-dayers. So there are five one-dayers there and then the Champions Trophy in September and rest of the year is full of Test cricket.

Ganguly and another former captain Rahul Dravid were omitted for the one-dayers in Australia after the national selectors opted for the core of India's ICC World Twenty20 winning squad, with several players lacking in experience at the international level.

Since his return to the one-day squad in early 2007, Ganguly has scored 1240 runs in 32 matches at an average of 44.28, and he celebrated his return with the Man-of-the-Series prize in the one-day series against Sri Lanka before the World Cup. However, his performances in the last ten matches saw the average dipping to 25.66. The team management in Australia had reasoned that Ganguly was overlooked for the sake of blooding youth, with the added emphasis on fielding abilities.

"I was a bit surprised because I didn't expect it," he said. "But, all I can say for sure is that it is not on the basis of form."