Only Gavaskar voted for Ganguly

The Indian captain Saurav Ganguly's name had been discussed during the selection procedure of the Asian XI team for their match against the World XI in Dhaka on April 8. However, even though Sunil Gavaskar wanted him in the side, the other four selectors felt that Ganguly did not deserve a place. As a result, Gavaskar's proposal was turned down by four votes to one. The other selectors were Ian Chappell, Mike Procter, Asif Iqbal and Tony Greig. The convenor of the meeting Ravi Shastri tried his best to include Ganguly in the side stating that his inclusion would be an added attraction at Dhaka. However, as convenor, Shastri did not have the necessary powers to enforce Ganguly's selection.

A few members of that selection committee who are in Jamshedpur as part of the commentary team, on Saturday made it clear that Ganguly was not included simply because his strike rate in the limited version of the game was lesser than either Sanath Jayasuriya or Saeed Anwar. ``We had talked about Ganguly at length at the meeting. He deserved a place in the Asian XI. However, as we cannot play him in the middle we were forced to leave him out,'' said one of the selectors. Another reason why the selectors had decided to keep Ganguly out of the side was the nomination of Jayasuriya as the vice-captain of the side.

The selectors also stated that Ganguly's fielding was another important factor for his exclusion. `Tell us the name of one member in the Asian XI who is a bad fielder. Ganguly, even though he is a great batsman, is not a very good fielder.''

Meanwhile, Barry Richards who was a member of the panel that selected the `Best One Day' team said that Kapil Dev's name had ben discussed at the meeting. ``However, we could not include him as we had to pick Sir Richard Hadlee. It was a toss up between Kapil Dev and Sir Richard.'' Dev, however, is not disappointed at not having found a place in the side. Talking to reporters in Jamshedpur on Saturday, Dev said, ``I have got other things to worry about than not finding a place in the best one day side. However, nobody can deny the fact that I was the captain of the only Indian team to have won the World Cup. That is a greater honour than being selected to the `Best One Day' side.

Meanwhile, it has been more or less decided that Sachin Tendulkar will bat in the match against the World XI at No 3.