Ganguly's selection in probables list politically motivated: Srinath

Mumbai, Aug 11 (UNI) Former cricketers Sanjay Manjrekar, Javagal Srinath and Laxman Sivaramakrishnan today came down heavily on the BCCI saying that the time has come for the board to categorically state whether Saurav Ganguly deserves to stay in the team on cricketing grounds or not.

Speaking at a symposium ahead of the Unitech Cup tri-series in Sri Lanka, Srinath alleged that the inclusion of Sourav Ganguly in the 30 probables for the Champions Trophy named in Bangalore yesterday, was a ''political move and not based on cricketing grounds.'' ''I still do not know whether coach Greg Chappell wants him in the team or not, but I can say that Ganguly has definitely not been chosen on performance,'' Srinath added.

The former Indian pacer said that the time has come to tell Ganguly whether he deserves to be in the team on cricketing grounds or not.

He also said that he could not comment whether the board inteferes in the job of the selectors while choosing the team, but during Ganguly's reign as a captain, ''he used to frequently use the board to get his team.'' Sivaramkrishnan also said that the time has come for the former captain to perform and get runs to be selected into the team.

However, he added, that Ganguly still has some time to make the World Cup team as it is still some eight months away and he can still come back into form with tons of runs in the domestic matches.

''But the bottomline is he has to score and score big, Sivaramkrishnan added.

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