Sourav Ganguly came down hard on the selectors for leaving him out of the Asian side for the three-match one-day series against Africa XI later this month.
"Why am I always the whipping boy? I am disgusted with it all," a livid Ganguly declared, when asked about his omission from the squad.
Ganguly did not figure in the Asian team, announced on Monday, for the inaugural series. From India, Rahul Dravid, Virender Sehwag and Irfan Pathan were picked.
Inzamam-ul Haq will lead the team, which will play three games in South Africa between August 17 and 21.
Ganguly's grouse stemmed from the fact that his overall record was overlooked and only the last four one-day games in which he failed to score much was made the deciding factor.
"I may not have scored in my four one-dayers this year, but does anybody's selection anywhere depend only on four matches," said Ganguly.
Ganguly termed his omission as "raw deal" and said the selections should have been done by the chief selectors of respective Asian countries rather than by a few former Test cricketers.
"What I can't understand is why the national selectors of the four Test-playing nations did not do the choosing and picking?" Ganguly wondered.
The Asian squad was picked by a selection panel comprising India's Ravi Shastri, Majid Khan of Pakistan, Sri Lanka's Graeme Labrooy and Shafiq-ul-Haque of Bangladesh.
None of them are national selectors in their respective nations.
Ganguly is 33 runs short of scoring 10,000 runs in one-day cricket. When he does so, he will become only the third cricketer in one-day international history to reach the milestone, behind Sachin Tendulkar and Inzamam.
Ganguly claimed he's getting a raw deal from all quarters these days.
"I am disgusted. What about the nearly 10,000 runs I have got. How come the runs I've scored don't count? Am I always to be the whipping boy?"
The elegant left-hander is looking forward to represent India against the hosts in a triangular series game on Wednesday.
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