This Indian team can`t win abroad: Ganguly

Perth: Sourav Ganguly has "accepted" the fact that the current Indian team cannot win Test matches on foreign soil and urged the national selectors to take tough and honest decisions, keeping in mind the best for Indian cricket.

India on Sunday lost the Perth Test by an innings and 37 runs to hand the four-match series 0-3 to Australia. "I cannot remember any Indian team going through such a dreadful run overseas for such a long time.... But to see India surrender again so meekly in the second innings was not a disappointment. It was expected, and now it`s accepted that this team can`t win away from home," the former India skipper wrote in his column for a leading daily. "Having played so much cricket with a lot of these players, it has really pained me to watch their misery. But to me that`s the reality and that`s were Indian cricket is at the moment." Ganguly also said that the team "deserved" all the criticism it is facing from the public and media. The former Test batsman called on the selectors to take decisions, which would help lift Indian cricket, rather than finding scapegoats. "In the past, selectors have made decisions to push aside soft targets - players whose omissions may not create much furore in India. By doing this, they not only save their backs but keep people happy. But the time has come to make the right decisions," Ganguly said. "The time has come for a statement. When the entire world talks about the Indian Premier League, rightly or wrongly, selectors will have to show that India`s Test team matters. I know it does with selectors, but now actions have to prove it," Ganguly added. He said the selectors will have to be fair and if they decide to drop VVS Laxman, other non-performing seniors should also be given the same treatment. "What will be the biggest test for the selectors will be fairness. There is talk about VVS Laxman being dropped for the Adelaide Test. If that`s the case, the same rule should be applied to other players as well." Ganguly said the reform process should start after the current series. "I will be watching keenly whether the Indian selectors push all this under the carpet or stand up and take decisions to take Indian cricket forward, which to me is the biggest and the most important thing right now," he said. PTI