Happiness and Sorrow within the span of a day.

India made Perth their "Fort Knox" for this series atleast. They had their strangle hold on the test almost all through the 4 days except for a short while during their batting in the 1st and the 2nd innings. The inclusion of Sehwag and Irfan eventually made the difference and this augurs well for the Adelaide test match.

The team would have been geared up for the 4th test soon after the celebrations ended but the BCCI sent a shocker to 2 of our 5 stalwarts in the team. While Laxman did not stand a chance , Tendulkar being a sure shot inclusion and Kumble having already retired from the shorter version of the game, I am sure Dravid was looking forward to a recall simply because he had the experience in Australia to back his selection. And Ganguly, he must be thinking what more does he need to do to stay in the team. This is apparent that the board does not favor Ganguly at all and have yeilded the axe without reason just because they wanted him out.

The boards excuse that age and agility were the factor for the exclusion of Dravid and Ganguly, its utter nonsense according to me. Dravid is a very fit fielder and cant be excluded on the basis of agility or age. While Ganguly, although being a bad fielder, had scored over a 1000 runs in 2007 to back his selection. This highlights the skewed selection process of the BCCI and all I can say is that I wish both Dravid and Ganguly all the very best.

Although the reasoning behind their exclusion might seem valid any other day, I simply feel that the BCCI could have started looking forward to the future after this triangular series and could have replaced these ageing greats of the game gradually and with their consent. It seems unfair that Tendulkar at 34 and over 1000 runs last year gets the nod while Ganguly at 35 with almost the same amount of runs gets ommitted. Tendulkar is quiet similar to Ganguly in terms of agility when it comes to fielding, but obviously this point was overlooked by the selection commitee.

Come on BCCI, its because of the Gangulies and the Dravids along with the Kumbles and Tendulkars and Laxmans that your board is the richest. Treat them with respect. Kumble was ignored repeatedly from the ODI team which forced him to announce his retirement and instead of learning a lesson from that episode, you repeat the same episode with another two greats. I fear for Sachin, for he has been the BCCI's biggest lottery ticket and hope he is not treated this way. I hope he times his retirement well before the board times him out.

I hope Dravid and Ganguly can fight their way back into the team only to be able to retire on their own terms. Although that seems to be a distant possibility now. But its really been disappointing. I hope the Adelaide test does not turn out to be the last for them.