Most of the recent selection blundering has come from the Indian team management - or at their behest - while the five-man committee at home has been mostly fair and fairly accommodating. By extending Sourav Ganguly's tenure till February 2002, they have once again made the right decision, but it is reasonable for them to expect him to fulfil his primary role in the team, that of specialist batsman.

It's not a rope long enough, some might argue; it is, after all, just one Test series and a few one-dayers. But Ganguly averages less than 30 as captain, and has played only one innings of real consequence - an unbeaten 98 to take India to victory over Sri Lanka at Kandy - and there is a possibility that he may no longer be worth a place in the side by the time the Tests against England are over. The fact that he will still be leading the one-day side in the not-impossible event of an English upset in the Tests is a more-than-acceptable reaffirmation of faith.

Ganguly was not expected to win in South Africa, but he didn't even have conviction in his own decisions. It was Ganguly who decided that Rahul Dravid would open throughout the Test series and it was he who requested five seamers in the squad, including his two favourite left-armers, Zaheer Khan and Ashish Nehra. The Dravid experiment lasted all of one match while Zaheer and Nehra were both dumped after a lacklustre showing in the Bloemfontein Test. By the end of the series, as if to justify his request, every seamer had played a match. There is much to admire in the way he rallies behind his men but tactically, he has proved to be impatient, and even a touch immature.

Still, appointing a new captain would have been precisely the sort of panic move that Ganguly himself has been guilty of. It must be repeated that India have won away Tests under him, even if they have come at Dhaka, Bulawayo and Kandy, not to mention their greatest home triumph ever, against Australia. And, watching the Centurion match, which Ganguly sat out, it has been evident that India's dismal performance on bouncy pitches has little do with captaincy.

Ganguly's biggest challenge now will not be merely to win a home series against England. It will be to conduct himself, and the rest of his team, with dignity, and, to prove to his country that he deserves a place in the middle order. The selectors have done their bit, it's up to Ganguly to repay them.

Rahul Bhattacharya is a staff writer with Wisden.com India.

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