The others he was hinting at were Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and V V S Laxman whose combined failure along with Ganguly's, cost India the Test series in Lanka.
Another former skipper Ajit Wadekar, however, feels that all the four vastly experienced senior batsmen, including the Bengal stalwart, should be in the team to take on the mighty Australians in the four-Test series commencing next month.
"The journey to re-build the team has started. This (omission of Ganguly) may be the way the selectors are planning for the future. Also this will keep others (seniors) on their toes. It's some sort of a signal to them," Borde told PTI from Pune.
The incident is reminiscent of India's landmark series in Pakistan in 1978.
Three decades ago India embarked on a historic tour to resume cricket rivalry between the two countries for the first time since 1961, relying mainly on the spin trio of Erapalli Prasanna, Bhagwat Chandrasekhar and captain Bishen Singh Bedi to take wickets.
But all of them came a cropper and India lost the rubber.
The Pakistan batsmen, led by Zaheer Abbas who scored 583 runs averaging a phenomenal 194 per innings, made mincemeat of the spin trio's offerings. Heads rolled after the tour with Prasanna, who picked up only two wickets in two Tests at over 125 runs per victim, never played another Test.
Chandra and Bedi played in the following two series at home against Alvin Kallicharran's the West Indies and the 1979 series in England - before leaving the scene.
Wadekar though does not see India's tour of Sri Lanka as the beginning of the end for the 'Fab Four' batsmen and feels their presence in the Indian team is essential when the mighty Aussies come calling, aiming for back-to-back Test series victories.
"We had not prepared well for Lanka whose preparation, on the other hand, for the series was very good. But the experience of the seniors, including that of Ganguly, for the Test series against Australia will be vital. May be he (Ganguly) has been dropped because of his fielding," Wadekar said.
Both Borde and Wadekar were firm in their opinion that there was no replacement in sight as yet for skipper Anil Kumble who, at 37, is in the twilight of his career and also had a forgettable tour of Lanka. Kumble grabbed eight wickets while giving away 50 runs per victim.
"The Lankans put up a very good show against Kumble but on Indian wickets he and Harbhajan Singh are important to take wickets if the medium pacers don't take wickets against the Australians," Borde said.
Borde said that Kumble's likely successors Piyush Chawla and Amit Mishra were not yet ready for taking over the mantle from the Karnataka stalwart.
"They are not ready to replace Kumble. They need to perform more consistently by doing well in one-dayers. Kumble is a very good thinker and when the time comes I'm sure he will leave on his own," the former middle order batting mainstay said.
Wadekar also felt that Chawla and Mishra were "too raw" and that Kumble was still going "great guns".
"I don't think the youngsters are ready to take charge. They have not yet been groomed for it," he explained.
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