Vengsarkar says selection only on merit: Video

 In what could be music to the ears of Sourav Ganguly and Zaheer Khan, newly-appointed national senior selection committee chairman Dilip Vengsarkar today said that the door is not shut on anyone playing domestic cricket for making a comeback into the Indian squad.

"The door is not shut on anyone playing domestic cricket," said the former India skipper and veteran of 116 Tests and 129 ODIs, a day after being appointed to one of the most difficult posts in Indian cricket at the Board of Cricket Control of India (BCCI) AGM here.

Former captain Sourav Ganguly has not got a look-in by the selectors since returning from Pakistan after playing in the three Test series there while Zaheer also has not found favour after that trip across to India's western neighbours early this year.

The Rajapur (Ratnagiri district)-born Vengsarkar, who had led India in 10 Tests in the late 1980s and was a member of the 1983 World Cup winning team, said that he would try and ensure that there was no zonal bias whenever the new five-member committee meets and selects a team.

"I will try and see that there's no question of any zonal bias in selecting a player. It (selection) will be purely based on form and merit of the players," he said.

Asked how he would be able to stop this much-criticised scourge of Indian cricket, Vengsarkar says it was left to each individual (selector) to ensure this did not happen.