We're not writing off Ganguly, says Dravid

The skipper said that doors had not been closed on his predecessor's return to the national side. "We are not writing off anyone. Irrespective of whether it is a Ganguly or a Kumble, nobody is written off," Dravid said.

Captain Rahul Dravid on Wednesday said that doors had not been closed on his predecessor Sourav Ganguly's return to the national side.

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"We are not writing off anyone. Irrespective of whether it is a Ganguly or a Kumble, nobody is written off," Dravid said.

"Anyone could be in the team if you are playing domestic cricket and if you are doing well, as long as there is a place for you in the team. If the people in the team are doing really well, then it becomes very difficult, irrespective of who you are," Dravid said in an interview to CNN-IBN.

"Most of the decisions that we take are in conjunction with a lot of people and are based on how we want to take the team forward, what are the kind of players that we are looking for and how we want to get better as a team," he said.

When asked whether his relation with Ganguly had deteriorated in recent times, the captain said "on a personal level, they have not. We did meet and we do meet. I just think that sometimes things get blown a bit out of proportion as well."

Dravid said that the World Cup next year was an important event but the development of the team went much beyond that.

"It (World Cup) is a very important event, but also I think that there is a lot of other cricket which is very important.

"You got to build your team not just for the World Cup, but also to succeed beyond the World Cup... You can't just build the team for a World Cup.

"It is about creating a good team, a good system, a team that can go forward and get better even after the World Cup, whether it be a series in Australia or England."