Against the backdrop of his skipping the match against Gujarat, former captain Sourav Ganguly [Images] was on Tuesday asked to play in a Ranji Trophy match before leaving for Pakistan for the tour starting January 5.

Vice-captain Virender Sehwag [Images], veteran leg-spinner Anil Kumble [Images] and second wicketkeeper Parthiv Patel have also been asked by the BCCI to play in a Ranji Trophy match before arriving in Pakistan.

This decision has been taken after consulting India captain Rahul Dravid [Images], coach Greg Chappell [Images] and Selection Committee chairman Kiran More, and has been approved by Board president Sharad Pawar [Images], BCCI secretary Niranjan Shah said in a media release.

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Shah said that these four players would be reaching Pakistan after playing for their respective state teams in the Ranji Trophy Elite Division league matches (round 6) beginning January 3.

"We have taken this decision as we thought that all players chosen for the tour will not be needed to play the opening tour three-day warm-up game on January seven. We also wanted to give importance to domestic cricket," Shah told PTI from Rajkot.

The decision also follows controversy over Ganguly's absence in Surat and Selection Committee chairman Kiran More expressing his displeasure over it. He had written to Shah as to why Ganguly was not playing in the Ranji match.

Ganguly had made his re-entry into the Test side after being omitted from the team for the third Test against Sri Lanka [Images] played in Ahmedabad.

The Indian team is scheduled to leave for Pakistan on January 5 and the opening Test in the three-match series starts in Lahore [Images] on January 13.

The four players shall join the rest of the team in Pakistan on January 7.

More, unhappy over Ganguly's decision not to play in Bengal's ongoing fifth round match against Gujarat at Surat, had written a letter to the board secretary asking the latter to seek an explanation from the star batsman.

Shah had forwarded the letter to the Cricket Association of Bengal asking them to get a reply from Ganguly on the matter.