DADA GETS A LIFELINE

Fans of Prince of Kolkata, rejoice! Sourav Ganguly has been included in the Indian team which will take on the Australians at home in a 4-Test series. The 15-member squad has been selected only for the first two Tests in Bangalore (9th October 2008 to 13th October 2008) and Mohali (17th October 2008 to 21st October 2008).

Ganguly was the only senior amongst the fab four (or five if you wish to include Anil Kumble in it!) who was left out of the Rest of India team for the Irani Trophy. Sources say that not only a change in the selection committee but also a hard stance adopted by the new BCCI President Shashank Manohar who wanted to give the seniors an honourable exit.

There have been four changes from the Test squad which toured Sri Lanka a couple of months ago - Rohit Sharma, Dinesh Karthik, Parthiv Patel and Pragyan Ojha have been dropped. Rohit, who watched the entire action in Sri Lanka from the sidelines, has been in a poor form in even the shorter format of the game. And, the less we say about wicketkeeper Dinesh Karthik's showing in recent times, both in front and behind the stumps, the better.

Two players, both of whom have represented the country in ODIs, get a look in the Tests for the first time - middle-order bat S Badrinath and spinner Amit Mishra. People who've followed India's domestic cricket extensively over the last few years vouch for Badrinath's ability to play marathon knocks while leg-spinner Mishra deserved another chance after a successful stint for the Delhi Daredevils in the IPL, which included a hat-trick against the Deccan Chargers.

THE INDIAN TEAM (For first two Tests vs Australia):

Anil Kumble (Captain)
Virender Sehwag
Gautam Gambhir
Rahul Dravid
Sachin Tendulkar
VVS Laxman
Sourav Ganguly
Mahendra Singh Dhoni
Harbhajan Singh
Zaheer Khan
Ishant Sharma
Munaf Patel
R.P. Singh
S. Badrinath
Amit Mishra