Can Ganguly hear the door closing?

Now with Yashapal Sharma, Gopal Sharma and Pranab Roy —Ganguly’s advocates — no longer in the selection committee, the ‘‘Ganguly comeback’’ question has picked up momentum, there being a visible lack of backers. Newly-elected BCCI secretary Niranjan Shah — more famous after his association in Rajkot welcomed Ganguly with a green top for a Duleep Trophy match — said: ‘‘It is not because we have come to power that Ganguly has to go.’’

Shah felt that it was up to the new selection committee to decide Ganguly’s fate, keeping the ‘‘interest of the team’’ in mind.

Rumour-mongers insist that as a fallout of the detestation that most members in the Pawar faction have for Dalmiya, Ganguly may further be made the scapegoat. ‘‘If you have nothing except Ganguly on your agenda, I am not going to say anything,’’ former BCCI President Raj Singh Dungarpur announced to an inquisitive media waiting for the AGM to conclude.

In the recent selection committee meeting in Chennai, More denied getting any orders from the top to include Ganguly. However, reports confirmed that if not for the selectors who have quit their posts now, none of the others present in that meeting wanted Ganguly in the side. Even in the new selection committee, except for Ranjib Biswal — not a loud supporter of Ganguly, though — the rest could join the chorus in keeping the former captain out.

When Dalmiya was once again, after Tuesday’s defeat, held as Ganguly’s mentor and protector throughout, the former BCCI chief hit back saying: ‘‘It is too uncharitable to say that Ganguly came to the team because of anybody’s recommendations. He came on his own ability and performance. He did not need a godfather.’’

Many including Dalmiya feel that Ganguly still has three to four years of cricket left in him. But will the newly formed BCCI managing committee allow the former Indian captain to stay?