Despite being ignored by the national selectors yet again, former Indian captain Sourav Ganguly has no plan to quit big time cricket and would continue to play domestic tournaments to make a comeback into the national side.
"He will definitely continue playing," said Ganguly's close friend and former Bengal Ranji Trophy cricketer Sanjay Das.
Das, who is also the brand partner of Ganguly's posh eating joint Sourav's, expressed annoyance with the selectors' decision to leave the left-hander out of next month's one day series in the West Indies.
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"Not merely as a friend, but as a cricket lover also, I feel bad about this. Keeping him out of the squad is definitely not the right decision. But then, it is the judgement of the selectors. We can't do anything about it," Das said.
Asked how Ganguly has taken the latest snub from the selectors, Das said: "Oh! he is all right. Absolutely all right."
Ganguly, however, could not be contacted, as he was away in Mumbai on a personal visit.
Ganguly's father Chandi, a former Cricket Association of Bengal secretary, refused to comment.
"Please don't ask us questions on Sourav being kept out of the side. We can't answer," he said.
Ganguly's elder brother Snehasish also shied away from commenting.
Ganguly, who led the Indian team to the final in the last World Cup, was dropped from the one-day side last year. The move resulted in widespread protests, with former players and the media assailing the national selectors.
The left-hander was included in the squad in the Test series in Pakistan, but then dropped for England's tour of India.
Ganguly's woes began during the tour of Zimbabwe last year, when he had a spat with coach Greg Chappell.
After scoring a Test hundred in the African nation, Ganguly made the sensational disclosure that he had been asked by the coach to step down as captain before the series.
The development caused a flutter and Chappell shot off an e-mail to the BCCI describing Ganguly as 'physically and mentally unfit' to lead the side and charged him with dividing the team.
Though the BCCI stepped in to diffuse the crisis, Ganguly lost his captaincy within a short time, and his place in the Indian team.
Though Ganguly has remained silent on his non-inclusion so long, a fresh controversy erupted after Chappell remarked in an interview to a British newspaper that the Kolkata-based player had refused to give up captaincy of the Indian team because the job was 'utterly important to his life and finances'.
Following a complaint from Ganguly, the BCCI admonished Chappell.
