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[nahia]

CHENNAI: "Go and check the record books. In the last two years, he hasn't done anything to be among the top-30 of Indian cricket." That was how a

selector snapped back to a question two months ago, after dropping Irfan Pathan from the probables list for the Champions Trophy.

Since then, Pathan hasn't bowled a single delivery, but all those who had masterminded his ouster believe that the all-rounder is among the top six pace bowlers in the country, good enough to play even the longer version.

And what does the same bunch of selectors have to say this time around after including him in the 15-member squad for the Irani Cup from October 1-5?

"He is a talented cricketer and we believe in his potential," the bouncer leaves you zapped.

A reluctant captain Virender Sehwag, who doesn't feel like leading anymore, is made the Rest Of India skipper, somebody who has scored 812 runs last season (Mohammad Kaif) is not there in any of the teams either for the Irani Cup or the Challenger Trophy and a former India wicketkeeper-batsman (Parthiv Patel) with 818 runs last season is not among the top four keepers in the country (the best two will go to South Africa while Wriddhiman Saha and Uday Kaul are the two keepers for Irani).

If that is not enough, there's another ace up the selectors' sleeves. The teams for the Challenger series are quite clearly made with the belief that Team India won't make it to the final of the Champions Trophy, which is on October 5.

The Teams:

Rest of India (for Irani trophy): Virender Sehwag (Capt), Wriddiman Saha (wk), M Vijay, S Sreesanth, S Badrinath (Vice Capt), Munaf Patel, Virat Kohli, Pragyan Ojha, Manoj Tiwari, Kedar Jadav, Ravindra Jadeja, Abhinav Mukund, Irfan Pathan, Uday Kaul, Sudeep Tyagi.

Challenger Series:

India Red: Yuvraj Singh (Capt), Wriddiman Saha (wk), M Vijay, R Ashwin, Sunny Sohail, Sudeep Tyagi, Shikar Dhawan, Munaf Patel, Ishant Jaggi, S S Tiwari, Ravindra Jadeja, Ishant Sharma, Bhuvanesh Kumar, H Khadiwale.

India Green: Suresh Raina (Capt), Irfan Pathan, A Rahane, Parthiv Patel (wk), Tanmay Srivastava, S K Jakati, Ravi Inder Singh, L Balaji, Manoj Tiwari, Dhawal Kulkarni, S Badrinath, Pankaj Singh, Chetanya Nanda, Uday Kaul.

India Blue: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (Capt), Yusuf Pathan, Sachin Tendulkar, Naman Ojha, Wasim Jaffer, Harbhajan Singh, Jalaj Saxena, S K Trivedi, Suresh Kumar, S Sreesanth, Kedar Jadav, Ashok Dinda, Abhishek Nayar, A S Goswami.