After 4 hours & split vote, Sourav back in team

That there was high drama became obvious to reporters who spotted a visibly tense Dravid leaving the meeting room some time before it broke up.

The sense of confusion was heightened by the attempts to window-dress the decision. In the course of 20-odd minutes, More came out with these three statements at the press conference:

• Ganguly has been chosen in the team as a bowling all-rounder. Zaheer Khan has missed out because Ganguly could provide a bowling option

• We thought we’d use him as a batting all-rounder in the team. He scored a century against Zimbabwe in the last Test series and came up with a century in the Duleep Trophy

• The selectors thought Ganguly could do well as an all-rounder in the team.

Maybe More just didn’t have his heart in it after the marathon meeting, which began at 10 a.m. and saw moments of frayed tempers and a number of ‘‘breaks due to deadlock’’.

Much of the selection was routine, Chappell’s influence showing itself in the bold decisions to include left-arm quick RP Singh and ’keeper MS Dhoni in place of Dinesh Kaarthik. Both these decisions were prompted by the coach, it was learnt.

But then came the Ganguly issue. It had been building up for several days, of course, with even BCCI president Ranbir Singh Mahendra coming out in the former captain’s defence. And the one-test clause smacks of an attempt to appease the restive public in Kolkata, venue of the next ODI on Friday.

So when it cropped up it wasn’t a surprise as much as an irritant.

Sources say that scene was once again set for Mohammad Kaif or Yuvraj Singh to be sacrificed. But the captain and the coach— especially the latter, who’d been confronted with the same dilemma in Zimbabwe when it all started—were in no mood to give in.

Ganguly’s backers then projected him as a bowling all-rounder. That seemed to be a well-planned strategy since the former India skipper has been having long bowling spells—with some success too—in domestic games while trying for a comeback in the team.

However, there was much laughter in the room when someone pointed to Ganguly’s 25 wickets in 85 Tests and the fact that his last ‘two-wicket’ haul was in 2001.

With the majority already on Ganguly’s side, however, and a bowling all-rounder the only option, the name of Zaheer Khan — with 23 wickets in the Duleep Trophy — was eventually crossed out.

While Ganguly’s backers in the Board pushed his case, the opposing camp comprising Chappell agreed, but only on one condition that this should be a one-Test trial. That’s why the selectors went against the ‘‘initial plan’’ of naming a squad for two Tests.

Sources disclosed that if Ganguly came a cropper in the crucial opening Chennai Test starting December 2, Zaheer Khan would be the obvious candidate to replace him.

So Chappell meets his bete noire yet again; the only difference is, this time he will have Dravid by his side. Yet the next few days promise to be interesting.