Agriculture Minister and BCCI president Sharad Pawar could have some explaining to do for Sourav Ganguly’s exclusion from the Test squad as Left MPs plan to bat for on the former skipper’s behalf and demand his immediate recall to the team.On his part, Pawar reacted to the team news by denying that it had been dictated by the board. ‘‘Selection of players is the sole discretion of the selection committee and we have nothing to do in that’’, Pawar told reporters. He was also quoted by a TV channel as saying he was ‘‘shocked’’ as a fan but respected the selectors’ independence.He will probably need to do some more explaining to the Left MPs.The CPI’s Gurudas Dasgupta opened the innings today, sending off a letter to Pawar squarely blaming the selectors for keeping Ganguly out. ‘‘The selection committee seems to have done it (sacked Ganguly) not on merit but on other grounds’’, he said, adding that the former skipper ought to have been picked on the strength of his performance in the Delhi Test.Dasgupta’s letter to Pawar ends with a straightforward request to the BCCI president: include Ganguly’s name in the squad for the next Test.Ganguly has also won the CPM’s support. Basudeb Acharia, the party’s leader in the Lok Sabha, told The Indian Express that he would be meeting Pawar with other party members to protest Ganguly’s exclusion. ‘‘We will demand an answer from Sharad Pawar on Sourav’s exclusion. He should be immediately taken back into the team,” Acharia said.
