Kolkata / New Delhi: Former India captain Bishan Bedi feels that by lashing out at his teammates and the national selectors, Sourav Ganguly may have created ill-feeling in the Indian dressing room during a crucial Test match.
"He must be a lonely man out there in Bangalore after his unpleasant, unexpected and unwarranted comments about his teammates," Bedi said on Friday.
Bedi said he did not expect such vitriolic comments from someone who had played 400-odd international games and who was hailed as a players' captain.
"Sourav had a good run, why complain so bitterly when he is about to leave the scene. He chose the most inopportune time to vent his feelings. He should have shown grace and been more gracious to his colleagues."
Bedi could not recall any other player attacking fellow-cricketers Sourav did after quitting the game. "His reported remarks were undesirable and it is beyond my comprehension that he could have used such language."
Former selection committee chief Dilip Vengsarkar, who too was not spared by Ganguly, on Friday reserved his comment.
"I will not speak on this now because the Australia series is going on. I will speak after the series," Vengsarkar said in Mumbai.
Vengsarkar's predecessor Kiran More, former selector from Bengal Sambaran Banerjee and former Test off-spinner Erapalli Prasanna did not want to join issue with Ganguly on his outburst that he decided to retire to save himself the humiliation of being treated as the sacrificial goat by the selectors all the time.
However, another former Test player Karsan Ghavri felt Ganguly has every reason to be unhappy
"He is justified in making such remarks. The selectors always held a sword over him. He was under pressure all the time," Ghavri said.
He also found nothing wrong with Ganguly's adverse comments about some of his colleagues in the Indian team.
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"Whatever he has said is right. He has not named any player. But from his comments it appears he has players like Rahul Dravid, Virender Sehwag, MS Dhoni in mind. Other players have also played. But only Ganguly is singled out every time. My question is why only him?" Ghavri asked.
Ghavri said players like Ganguly should not to be humiliated. "They should be respected and they should be allowed to go out on a pleasant note".
Ganguly had told a vernacular daily in an interview that there was no point continuing with the game if he was treated in such a manner while some of the other players went scot-free.
"There is no point playing like this. I am not willing to play at their (selectors') mercy. They will pick you now and then dump you. Why should I be the sacrificial goat all the time? It was difficult to accept," said Ganguly, who announced his retirement from international cricket on Tuesday.
"If a gun is held at your head, how far can you bear it. That too after playing 450 matches. I played badly in only one series. But others are not dropped. I have scored the highest number of runs after comeback," Ganguly said in the interview with Aaj Kaal.
The former Indian captain also hit out at the selection committee for dropping him from the Rest of India squad for the Irani Trophy.
"I never thought I will be out of the Irani team. I could not sleep for one month in anger, agony."
Lashing out at some of his colleagues in the Indian team, Ganguly said: "Some have not scored any runs in the last three series, some have not scored any run during the last one year. Some have changed their hair style more number of times than the number of runs they have scored. I was dropped despite scoring the highest number of runs following my comeback."
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