By Max
December 6 2006

India's "Big Five" batting lineup -- Tendulkar, Dravid, Ganguly, Laxman and Sehwag -- is back together after VVS Laxman and Sourav Ganguly are recalled to the Test team in South Africa. Greg Chappell's disruption of the Indian batting lineup has been put on hold after the entry of Dilip Vengsarkar as BCCI chief selector.

While it is well known that Chappell had his knife in Ganguly for reasons that had nothing to do with cricket and everything to do with insidious politics, ex-chief selector Kiran More had done nothing to prevent his agenda from damaging and dividing Indian cricket.

A look at the away averages of Laxman and Ganguly, after excluding matches played against minnows Bangaldesh and Zimbabwe, shows that Laxman has an average of 44.0 from 37 matches including 5 centuries and 12 half-centuries while Ganguly has an average of 44.2 in 40 matches including 6 centuries and 13 half-centuries.

The statistics of these batsman in away Tests are both good and surprisingly similar, contrary to the perception that Ganguly is weak on bouncy pitches away from home. This, despite the fact that Ganguly was also subjected to the pressures of building and leading a successful India team for five years. A disproportionate number of India's away wins have come under Ganguly.

At a time when Lara is still going strong at age 38, Inzamam-ul-Haq at 37, and Australia's "Dads Army" continues to dominate world cricket, Greg Chappell's "process" would have us believe that world-class batsmen like Ganguly and Laxman are finished in their early 30's. India's sliding fortunes in Tests as well as ODIs during Chappell's tenure as coach have proven that his policy of randomly selecting young and unproven players in important matches has been disastrous for Indian cricket. Thankfully, a change at the helm of the selection committee has put a stop to all that.

Vengsarkar will tour South Africa with the Test team, and importantly, will influence the composition of the playing team, preventing Chappell from defeating the selection of these two class players by refusing to play them or otherwise undermining them. After the humiliating clean-sweep by SA in the one-dayers, this will come as a ray of hope to those who look forward to seeing India compete well in the Tests against South Africa.