Ganguly retained as captain for South Africa tour

It was at 11.20 on a warm September morning that Sourav Ganguly's position at the helm of affairs in Indian cricket came under serious scrutiny. The selectors and John Wright sat around a table at the Mumbai Cricket Association to decide whether the axe would fall on Ganguly before the team left for South African shores. Bookies around the country backed Rahul Dravid, placed Sachin Tendulkar a close second and reckoned that Ganguly would lose his job. How wrong they were. Chairman of selectors Chandu Borde along with board secretary Jaywant Lele announced today at the MCA that Ganguly would remain captain for the full tour of South Africa comprising three Tests and a triangular One-Day series.

The meeting took almost two hours as John Wright briefed the selectors about the recently concluded Sri Lankan tour. Invited by the selectors to present a report on what went wrong, Wright took his time explaining various aspects, stressing particularly on the performance of youngsters.

"The decision to retain Ganguly as captain was a unanimous one. All five of us were in agreement on this issue," said Borde to the pressmen gathered outside the meeting hall. The chairman of selectors went on to add that the team for the One-Dayers would be picked on September 7 at Mumbai. "Fitness is a big factor we are looking to and a cause for concern," said Borde. He also hinted that only players who are fit would be selected for the South Africa tour.

Sourav Ganguly, it must be remembered has enjoyed a fair degree of success as captain. After famously beating Australia, coming from behind, India drew level with Zimbabwe (1-1) and lost to Sri Lanka (2-1). In his stint at the helm Ganguly has won three Tests abroad, one each in Bangladesh, Zimbabwe and Sri Lanka. Only two other captains in the history of Indian cricket have achieved this - MAK Pataudi and Bishen Singh Bedi.