Nawabs lend support to the Prince of Kolkata

Chief selector Kiran More, here to watch the Ranji Trophy final, could not have imagined the fan following that ‘Maharaj’ has in t...

Chief selector Kiran More, here to watch the Ranji Trophy final, could not have imagined the fan following that ‘Maharaj’ has in this city of Nawabs. Today, he saw it from close quarters as the fans virtually demanded Ganguly’s recall to the one-day team — but More said not yet.

No sooner had he entered the ground, along with fellow selectors V.B. Chandrashekhar and Bhupinder Singh Sr, the crowd started shouting Arre More sahab, Dada ko kyun nahi liya? and Tanashahi nahi chalegi.

More tried ignoring them but the situation turned worse when he started speaking

to the media. The crowd came close to the fence and one voice could be clearly heard asking, Aaj pehla wicket Dada ne hi liya hai, Dada ka qasoor kya hai?

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Sensing trouble, the police intervened and had to even resort to a mild lathicharge.

However, More stuck to his ground. ‘‘Sourav will get his chance in future’’, he said. ‘‘Other senior players like Kumble and Laxman have been dropped as well. We are trying out some youngsters.’’ Elaborating further on Sourav, he added, ‘‘Anybody can make a comeback. And I think he will also be able to do it.”

However, this quote was twisted out of context by the media to mean Ganguly could return for the Pakistan ODIs. So later in the day this paper contacted More for a clarification. His reply: That’s not what I meant at all, we picked the team yesterday, we can’t change it now.