The spotlight is now on Ganguly

Sachin Tendulkar's decision to resign the captaincy after the completion of the Test series against South Africa has suddenly sparked off a sharp debate in Calcutta. And Saurav Ganguly is at the centre of this discussion. Most of the cricket lovers feel that Ganguly should be the natural successor to Tendulkar.

Former cricketers, selectors and administrators feel that Ganguly should take over from Tendulkar if the `master blaster' decides to stick to his decision. Ganguly, however, is completely nonchalant on this issue. He refuses to be drawn into this controversy. "My job is to play for the country and perform regularly. It is for the selectors and others to decide who should be selected as captain. I am not going to speak a single word on this issue," is the comment that he has for the media.

However, former Indian cricketer Arun Lal feels that Ganguly should be the obvious choice. But then can he handle senior players like Md Azharuddin and Sachin Tendulkar? Lal feels that Ganguly has the maturity to do so. "He is a very good leader and he has developed the art of man management," says Lal. "He has the ability to tackle any situation. He has got two centuries in Australia and at the moment is looking very confident. There is no competition against him. A number of people are talking about Ajay Jadeja. However, he has to establish himself in the Test team at first."

The former national selector Sambaran Banerjee, goes one step further and states, "I have never been a fan of Tendulkar's captaincy. I have been saying for the last one year that Ganguly has all the credentials of becoming a good captain. So he should be the obvious choice after Sachin."

Both father Pankaj Roy and son Pronob Roy also feel that Ganguly should be the obvious choice if Tendulkar steps down. However, the senior Roy has doubts in his mind. "Performance is not the last word to determine the captain of the Indian team. There are various permutations and combinations. And Saurav being from the East Zone, will have the dice loaded against him."