The Challenger Trophy cricket tournament would be crucial for former India captain Sourav Ganguly, said Lalchand Rajput, coach of the India Reds team in Chennai.
Accompanying his team members led by Venugopal Rao, Rajput, said, "The tournament will help fringe players and those who dropped from the squad for the Champions Trophy tournament, like Ganguly and Sreesanth."
Asked if he thought Ganguly still has a chance to make a come back, Rajput said, "I could see the fire in his belly. I just now spoke with him and this is what I learnt from him."
"The new selection panel has said that they have an open mind and they will pick players on the basis of their performance. Therefore, I believe, the Challenger trophy is a crucial one for players like Zaheer Khan and VVS Laxman," he said.
Saying that all the players in the three teams would be keen to perform well in the tournament, Rajput said "as you all know we did not do well in DLF Cup in Kuala Lumpur.
It is going to be a good challenge between the teams. While the Seniors will be keen to do well and get back to their form before the champions Trophy, the others will be trying to impress the Selection committee members."