'Chappell was against picking Ganguly'

If Greg Chappell had had his say in picking the playing eleven for the Karachi Test, Sourav Ganguly may not have been in the team.

The Team India coach, keen to play a fourth seamer, wanted Ajit Agarkar instead of the southpaw, The News said, quoting a team source.

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''Chappell didn't believe that Ganguly should be picked for the third Test in the background of his argument and keeping in mind that India had also played with a combination of five bowlers and five specialist batsmen with wicketkeeper Mahendra Singh Dhoni as the sixth batsman,'' newspaper said.

A lot of debate was held on the selection of Ganguly for the crucial Test, with Chappell arguing that since India would have to play three spinners and two seamers, or three seamers and two spinners, in their coming home series against England, it was best to start sticking to a similar combination in Pakistan also, added the source.

He said, however, captain Rahul Dravid, manager Raj Singh Dungarpur and selector Ranjib Biswal argued that Ganguly should play as, given the look of the pitch for the final Test, India needed to strengthen its batting and play with six specialist batsmen.

''They also felt that going by normal circumstances, India had always played six specialist batsmen and not five specialist bowlers,'' added the source.