Two sides bring out the Sourav Ganguly persona: his penchant for the offside and his penchant for suicide. The first has left fielders exhausted; the second has left match referees exasperated.

But Ganguly remains unfazed and unrepentant, taking on the establishment like no other Indian player in recent times. And he was at it again after flying into India from South Africa. "They [the selectors] did not bother to ask me for my suggestions, nobody called me...Now I understand why Sachin resigned [as captain]," the Prince of Kolkata fumed at the royal letdown.

If the selectors ignored conventions in not consulting their captain, it's another indication of their frosty relationship. The Chandu Borde-chaired committee has been inconsiderate to the captain's view points on team composition and the growing divide between them is doing Indian cricket no good.

There is even a serious communication gap within his own team. While Ganguly wanted left-arm paceman Ashish Nehra for the Mohali Test to create rough outside the right-hander's off stump for Harbhajan Singh to exploit, team physio Andrew Leipus has informed the selectors that Nehra is unfit.

Ganguly is not the best when it comes to winning friends and influencing people. It was not just undiplomatic but utterly self-defeating when he mockingly asked if the chosen troika of new fast bowlers are better than Nehra, Ajit Agarkar and Zaheer Khan.

Sanjay Bangar, Iqbal Siddique and Tinu Yohanann will be entering Mohali not just with pre-debut nerves and L-plates on them but also in the knowledge that they do not enjoy the captain's confidence.

The series hasn't even started, but already Ganguly is causing trouble.

H Natarajan is chief editor of Wisden.com, India

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