'Difficult to say if Dhoni had a hand in Viru's ouster'

Former Indian captain Sourav Ganguly on Sunday sought to clarify his statement on Virender Sehwag's ouster from the Test squad, saying he had never categorically stated that Mahendra Singh Dhoni had a hand in the opener's omission.

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A media report on Saturday had quoted Ganguly as saying that, Dhoni had a hand in the player's removal from the team and it also stated that if Sachin Tendulkar and Dhoni are being "persisted" despite poor run of form, then why not with Sehwag.

Ganguly said, "It's very difficult to say whether Dhoni has a hand in Sehwag's exclusion but normally captains do have a say in team selection."

"That's been the case with all captains, whether it’s me, Dravid, Tendulkar, Kumble, Dhoni, Azhar or captains around world cricket. They normally have an opinion and a say about team selection," he stated.

Having said that, Ganguly also mentioned that the selectors do not always agree with the demands of a captain.

"That doesn't mean that the captain's opinion is taken all the time by the selectors. At times, they do listen and at times they don't. So it's very difficult to say whether Dhoni had a hand in Sehwag's exclusion."