The meaningful question to be asked in the continuing saga of Sourav Ganguly is — would you pick him in the one-day team? Is there a place for him in the inner circle, so brilliantly patrolled now by Yuvarj, Kaif, Raina, Dravid and Sachin? Half the strength of Dravid’s side lies within the 30 yards, which is why matches are being won.

Team India’s batting strengths and bowling weaknesses are pretty well known. The difference between the two seasons that followed the World Cup under John Wright and the third under Greg Chappell is the quality of the fielding.

Does it not surprise you that Indians have actually been hitting the stumps after making brilliant stops in the circle?

The former captain was already a liability in the field and he can only be more so now that another season has gone by in which his role has been limited to a few Test matches, in which arena it is possible even to hide Dilip Doshi, one of India’s poorer fielders in the modern era.

In good times and bad, the skipper used to escort the ball to the boundary when beaten in the circle, which is where he had to field not only because he had to direct operations but also because he could hardly position himself elsewhere, certainly not in the deep where two would be the minimum the batsmen would take.

What about his batting? There is no denying his achievements and his role in forging one of the game’s great opening partnerships with Sachin Tendulkar in the one-day game.

But that, again, is in the past. His reluctance to open except when he was woefully out of form and needed runs in the last part of his ODI career gave his game plan away.

Unfortunately, self-reservation began to take precedence over the team cause that he himself had championed so well in earlier years.

People tend to lose sight of the fact that the genesis of his troubles with Greg Chappell lay in his manoeuvres being found out. People tend to see only the spat, not its cause.

What about his attitude? Post-spat, there is bound to have been a sea change in him. Given his deep rooted desire to get back into the team, Ganguly is certain to show a nice enough attitude, realigned to the team cause, without which no one can envisage him surviving even a day in the new, acutely professionalised setup under Dravid and Chappell.

Truth be told, a World Cup comeback for Ganguly is as distant as Bermuda’s chances of winning the event.

Unless, of course, two or more senior batsmen are injured or unfit for the big one, in which case Ganguly might come right back into contention. Such a scenario would, however, mean India’s chances being blunted even before a ball is bowled. A more likely scenario is a farewell Test series for him, post-World Cup by when it would not seem outlandish to give in to the huge sentimentality behind his omission soon after the Zimbabwe fiasco, his subsequent recall for the Sri Lanka and Pakistan Tests and the studied omission again, this after putting him among the probables for the Champions Trophy.

If the principle of leaving Ganguly out of the one-day team had to be sustained, it had to logically extend to the list to probables, too. While there should be no reason to suspect the former skipper cannot figure in the top 30 in the land, his omission would have established the principle further.

The shifting politics of Indian cricket was the harbinger of some good news for the former skipper.

The CAB elections were a godsend even if he had to down the ultimate insult from his former godfather Jagmohan Dalmiya, who called him a baccha in cricket politics.

Ganguly may be just that in cricket admin politics but the day may not be far off when he could be a challenger for the same CAB post that has become such a hot seat.

Meanwhile, Team India have all ready learnt to do without Ganguly in the one-day arena that has become even more aggression-centric with 20 overs of field placement restrictions that have put a greater premium on what the in-fielders can do in stopping hits and effecting run outs.

Ganguly forte was he used aggression to make Team India fire again in ODIs. Somehow, the game itself has evolved beyond an older Ganguly’s capabilities.

It would be a more of a perfect world if only he would be satisfied now with a Test farewell appearance that would ease his angst before he rides off into his cricketing sunset.