[Anil]

As the captain of the test team, the positive things that Ganguly has brought into the team was an aggressive in-your-face attitude(although this attitude was noticeably absent during the current series) and the kind of support he gave to certain youngsters by sticking with them in good and bad times. A case in point: Harbhajan Singh. He also looks to have developed good understanding with Wright who has been quite simply, India's best coach ever.

On the debit side, his batting average has plummeted, bowlers all over the world have cottoned on to his weakness against the rising ball and exploited it to the extent that for a considerable amount of time, he has been in the team basically because he is captain. Another negative was that while he supported some players, he treated some other talented youngsters quite shoddily. A case in point: Murali Karthik.

I don’t think he is by any means a great captain or an inspiring one and his results will show that to be true. It can be argued that normally, a captain is only as good as the team he gets, but in his case, he has contributed a lot to the weaknesses of his team. His presence in the side has contributed to the ascension of Sehwag up the order where the team hasn’t been able to get the best out of him. It has also led to a series of makeshift openers in the side to the detriment of the team balance.

Because of his recent century, he has to be in the team for now, but his form and place in the side should be re-evaluated after the Australian tour and if he fails as a player, he should be sacked and Dravid should be made the captain. If that happens, we should also start looking for a specialist opening pair & move Sehwag down the order.

As far as one dayers go, Ganguly should be given a long stint in the team either as captain or just a regular player as he has proved himself in that form of the game.