Editor's note: That's all for today. We have been putting up responses since 1200 hrs IST. But do keep sending in your responses and regular service will resume tomorrow.
------
Denis:
It's really sad to know that due to unplanned, irresponsible and hasty decisions by the Board selectors this issue has crept up.
1) How the Board (BCCI) decided to appoint a new captain and bring in a replacement when still the ban on Ganguly from ICC is still pending (Note: Ganguly had 1 day to appeal to ICC, and this is not a final verdict).
2) Does the board does not want Ganguly to lead India anymore? If yes then they could have taken this decision on those grounds that Ganguly is out of form rather than shadowing on this ICC match ban issue.
Finally the BCCI should answer these questions coz its a career that is in stake for Ganguly as captain, for Dravid-taking his captaincy away (if BCCI wants to bring back Ganguly), for Sriram who is waiting for an opportunity.
------
Peri Balakrishnan.:
Ganguly is a brilliant captain, no doubt. But that brilliance arises out of his arrogant nature which from time to time leads him up the wrong path. He cannot ignore the rules of the game and lose touch with time. Unless the ban is upheld THIS time completely, he will never learn. The administrators will be failing in their job if they do not help him by enforcing the punishment. YES. GANGULY SHOULD SIT OUT THE 6 GAMES AS DIRECTED.
------
Arun Nayar:
Ganguly is a great captain with a lot of experience, and he is a team player, so I think he should stay captain as long as he plays, but just don't make him play again :D
------
Arnob Mondal:
It is truly disheartening to see the viciousness of the Indian cricket fans when they are targetting Ganguly as they are doing now. Do any of them remember his great knocks (like the one at Taunton) or the fact that he has forged a world class team over the years. Or that he has nurtured young talent without which Team India would be a pipe dream today. It is the nature of his character which tends to invite criticism - aggressiveness compounded with a certain disdain towards criticism. The fact that he comes from an upper class and well-heeled family probably induces a small tinge of envy and antagonism in his critics.
I was particularly disheartened to see the slant in your own site which prominently and regularly features Ganguly-bashing articles written by your correspondents.
Even Prem Panicker's well written and extremely absorbing ball-by-ball commentary is tainted with this bias. His partisanship came through loud and clear in the last ODI at Ahmedabad - barring this taint, his commentary throughout has been wonderful.
I honestly doubt whether this message will ever be posted on your site in any prominent manner considering your inherent bias against Ganguly but I nevertheless thought of airing my views to you.
Incidentally, this single episode has soured my outlook on the Rediff site. Till a few days ago, the Rediff site was one of the sites which I enjoyed browsing regularly - often many times a day.
------
Samindra Dasgupta:
No, he should not play. He should tell the selectors that he is not in any kind of form. So, he should consider going back to the drawing board, perhaps a stint with an English County till July-August. Till then, let us see how Rahul Dravid leads India with Sehwag as his deputy. I shudder to think as to how could Sehwag be the vice-captain. He does not play any cricketing shots nor has any grammer. He is very much an eye player, like Srikkant. As he gets older, he will lose his sharpness. I doubt whether he is thinker of the game.
There are a couple of questions, which have been haunting me for the past few days:
1. How can the selectors drop a national captain, based on a verbal communication from ICC? Did they know of the clause wherein as per "The ICC's own rules, there is no provision for banning a player for slow over rates on level 2 and 3 offenses -- the same argument used in November 2004, when then match referee Clive Lloyd banned Ganguly for two matches two Tests after the Indian captain failed to complete the quota of overs on time in the one-off ODI at the Eden Gardens against Pakistan to celebrate the Platinum Jubilee of the BCCI. Adjudicator Tim Castle had, on that occasion, set aside the ban. Notice of the current appeal was sent to the ICC headquarters by Wednesday evening.
Once a ban is appealed, it is automatically stayed until the review process can be completed.
The ICC now has to appoint a commissioner, who will then adjudicate on the appeal -- the rules stipulate that this process has to be completed within 48 hours of receiving the appeal.
The adjudicator has to listen to the principals -- match referee Chris Broad, skipper Ganguly, and anyone else it deems fit.
The adjudicator is bound to give his verdict within 7 days of the hearing. In the interim, the ban is automatically suspended, which in effect means Ganguly can play in Kanpur on Friday, and even in the final game of the series in New Delhi on Sunday, if the ICC adjudicator does not deliver his verdict before that date."
2. The selectors acted with the speed of lightning to name Rahul Dravid as captain. It seems they looking for an excuse and in a hurry to do so.
3. Anil Kumble declares himself available for the ODI, a day before the ban was imposed. So, was this a pre-planned strategy by a section of the team to bowl slowly so that Saurav is banned and get Kumble back into the side?
4. Why are we allowing Bedi to openly criticize the players in front of the world? No patriotic person will ever do it.
This leads us to come to the conclusion that the selectors and a section of the team are politically motivated. They seem to against Ganguly, since he is the most apolitical, unbiased and non-parochial captain since Pataudi. We will never be world champions, unless we become apolitical.
------
O.S. Bahuleyan:
According to me Mr.Ganguly should sit out for 6 matches then see how our other batsman as well as captain managing. In case if our new team keeps the target then why shoud we have to include Ganguly in the team since he is not in form. Let him play some domestic cricket and if found OK then should be given a chance.
------
Rahul:
Ganguly's appeal against the ban is perfectly ok. We sholud look that wheather such punishment is there for slow over rate. Last time also Mr. Clive Lloyd banned him but ICC thought otherwise and Ganguly came out cleanly. So appealing against the punishment is ok.
But his inclusion in the side for the fifth one day is a question mark and with all his efforts in last four one dayers, its unfair for players like Mongia or Sriram that they sit out and Ganguly plays just because he is a captain. Ganguly himself should think about that. Who knows he might click in the fifth match (he has to) but what about the consistancy. Ganguly you are the best captain but you are a good (now a days average) player.
------
Tushar:
I think its high time. Ganguly should now be rested and allowed to play domestic cricket to gain form. We should give chance to newcomer who is in-form. Take example of Aussies. They rested their best player Mark Waugh, when he was not at his best!!!
------
Motiprakash Rath:
Why is that BCCI selection committee took the decision in a hurry? They could have waited for written communication to ban Saurav. Is Saurav the sole reason for the delay of the match? I am sorry to say the BCCI members are indulging themselves in infighting rather than having a united stand contesting the ICC decision. I strongly feel BCCI should reverse its decision and take Saurav in the squard and strongly contest the ICC decision of penalizing him.
Three cheers for Team India!!!
------
P V Subbarao:
I believe BCCI is showing partiality on Ganguly. Is there any player who is not a captain, played these many matches with out scoring runs in Indian cricket history? Why is ganguly getting these many chances to play eventhough he is not scoring runs? Why is ganguly so much interested to play remaining matches eventhough he is not in the form? This is the time for ganguly to think himself. If he really wants India to win, he should drop himself before selectors do that and should try to get his form back by playing some ranji games.
BCCI has to change their thinking. There are number of talented players in india who are not getting chances to play in National team. So BCCI should drop the players who are not scoring runs for a long time and should give the chance to new players
In personally ganguly is so selfish. There were lots of incidents to show his character. One example is last India tour of Pakistan. Once India gets the chance of winning series, he had come back from india and joined the team eventhough he is not in full fitness just to get the name under his captaincy India won the series first time in Pakistan.
------
K V Prasad:
Firstly, to start with is the ban justified ??
ICC referee has ruled out Inzy previously for 2 test matches. It was the same with Ganguly. Now how come the punishment has suddenly changed to 6 ODIs??
To start with, ICC works as a panchayat sabha - the punishments are also like the typical filmi panchayat style - Sau Kode ki saja or Gau se 2 mahine ke liye bahar style punishments.
I think, it is high time that we take a leaf out of football and hockey and start with the concept of yellow card, red card and ban for a single ODI for every red card.
With respect to Ganguly and his place in the side, I sincerely feel that one needs to look at the fact that he can win matches even when he is out of form, just by the shrewdness that he has. I have for long not seen someone as shrewd as him. I think, the second ODI was won in terms of captaincy - Ganguly playing a call act of promoting Dhoni. While Inzy believed more in usual rituals rather than even applying a simple logic of including Kaneria in his side - he has done it only after loosing 2 matches.
Now, what do you want my dear fellow Indians - Team India winning under a shrewd captain or Team India loosing with an inform captain. I being an Indian would go for the former. And mind you, Ganguly is too good a player for us normal Indians to comment - THE THIRD MOST SUCCESSFUL BATSMAN IN THE ODIs.
As a strategist, Rahul is good, But Ganguly is GOD.
------
Rakesh Baliga:
I think that the Indian captain shud gracefully accept the ban imposed on him and use this as an opportunity to get back his lost touch with the bat.
He playing in the next to ODIs will not do any good to him , Team India , Sriram or Rahul in any way.
I think Dada shud get back to some practice matches , rediscover his golden touch and come back with a bang and silence his critics.
------
Subramanian R. Iyer:
The answer is a BIG NO. He should take this opportunity and opt out of the tournament. He has not fared at all in the series and it only will benefit the team if he watches, whatever is left of the series from the VIP box or the pavilion. His inability to perform sooner or later will have a negative effect on the team.
Every other caption is seen or read performing. If at all Ganguly still insists that he play, then he should bat at either # 10 or # 11. Even in the Ahmedabad match, his coming at # 4 was not at all justifyable. He should have opted to send out either Dravid, Yuvraj or Kaif before him.
So for the benefit of Team India, Ganguly should not play.
------
Srinivas Geetla:
I feel Indian captain Mr. Ganguly is a good player. But when he did some mistakes he has accept those and undergo the punishment. No player is exception to this. I feel, if anyone wants become a good sports person first of all he should be well disciplined.
With out discipline, no person can become a good sports person. Especially when some one is playing a captain role he should be more responsible. He should be able to lead the team in all parts. If he is doing a mistake as captain then he is much responsible. But here Ganguly seems to lacking of some sports person qualities.
Definitely he needs introspect on what's going on. You can't expect a player (and Captain) to do series of similar mistakes under any circumstances. This means that the player is not learning anything from his mistakes.
Ganguly is no exception to this. On the top of this, with BCCI support every time he is appealing to ICC on this. I don't understand why BCCI and Ganguly are not accepting the mistakes which they have done.
In my view it's not good idea that BCCI supporting Ganguly every time in these kind of situations. I don't think BCCI had meeting to discuss on this issue of slow over rate with the team players. Ideally BCCI should call a meeting with team to discuss on this and make sure that it doesn't repeat again. BCCI should take the necessary steps to make our players aware of all game rules.
Every sports person need be disciplined and should obey the games rules. This comes first and then comes whether every player giving best and whether we are winning are losing. This will be applicable all games and all sports persons. I feel Ganguly should learn from this and try to become a good sports person. I am sure that then he can become a good captain and can win many more hearts too.
------
Anil Mallanna:
Captain Ganguly should play but not the batsmen Ganguly. This is common been seen & heard, from most of the cricket lovers & ex-cricketers.
I really don't agree with Captain Ganguly playing, coz Ganguly is under tremendous pressure for not scoring runs & that will definitely affect his Captaincy as well. The part of the blame should goto the excessive coverage by the media, emotionally cricket followers & various thoughts & ideas by ex-cricketers.
Best solution currently for Ganguly would be to go back to nets and workout on his batting ONLY. He should not be too worried about his captaincy as he can get it back The day he decides to comeback. It's good keeping in the interest of the Team India as well. Ganguly as a Captain & match winning batsmen is what we would like to see.
Wish Ganguly & Team India all the best!!!
Rahul Dravid will defintely make a good captain as he is mentally very strong & he is a very smart guy. Wish Rahul all the best!!!
------
Gopalan K:
If I were Ganguly, I would stay out and focus on improving my flaws for the next season.
An inform Ganguly is still a potent force in one-day cricket compared to Mongia and Sriram and even Yuvi and Kaif.
Nobody's position in the team should be guaranteed, including Tendulkar's. Players go through a rough patch, Irfan the most recent one, and the team should not pay the price for it.
------
Indrajit Dutta Choudhury:
None of the questions have tried to address the main issue of that of Ganguly to take rest due to poor batting form. Instead all what you are talking about is it "fair to Dravid". Well, when will we start thinking of "what is fair to India". It's shameful to have a person like Ranbir Singh as Chief of BCCI who instead of resolving the issue is trying to get even with Ganguly for some incident that had happened long back.
What's more painful is that in order to prove yoour point of liking or disliking you can allow the your rival team and overseas media to write derogatory remarks about Captain of your country. And then you say yourself as supporter of national cricket team. Well Ganguly should not be playing the rest two one dayers not because he is not above the law, not becuase one Mr. Ranbir Singh whose contributuion to Indian Cricket is only to the extent of demoralising the players (from infamous tour down under when he failed to do any justise with his tag of manager till today when in hours of crisis for national cricket and pride he still is looking to get even with ganguly), and not because it will not be fair for Dravid.
It's because India needs to win the last two matches and at present form Ganguly can't do justise to this. Stop deroggating your nation for you don't want a person in team and you can support anyone to acheive your objective. And let ICC decides what the law is!!! Mr. Ranbir Singh are you listening?
More from rediff