Dravid elbows out Ganguly as captain

Mohali: Sourav Ganguly's five-year reign as the country's most successful skipper has come to an end.

The national selectors, headed by Kiran More, named Rahul Dravid as his successor for the one-day cricket home series against Sri Lanka and South Africa.

Speaking to the media after the selection committee meeting, the BCCI secretary SK Nair said that the decision to appoint the Karnataka batsman as the captain was unanimous.

The seven match series against the Lankans starts on October 25 while the South Africans begin their tour from November 16.

The clamor for the ouster of Ganguly as the skipper had been growing with the slump in his personal form coupled with the poor showing of the men in blue under his command.

A good showing under Dravid and the possibility of Ganguly remaining outside the team for a longer period could put his career at stake.

The recent bad blood between coach Greg Chappell and Ganguly only added to the troubles for the Bengal southpaw.

During the recent Zimbabwe tour Chappell had hinted that Ganguly should not remain in the team only on his stature and records.

In an email to the BCCI president, Ranbir Singh Mahendra, the coach had also said that Ganguly was not physically and mentally fit to lead the team.

Ganguly missed a chance to impress the selectors when he pulled out of the Challenger Series citing ?mild tennis elbow symptom".

The BCCI medical expert Dr Anant Joshi said that would take at least 10 days for Ganguly to be completely fit.

He would have to prove his fitness in a domestic game before playing in an international match as per Cricket Board's directive and stress on "form and fitness".

Although Ganguly can still play in the Duleep Trophy, starting on October 20, he missed out on the selectors' deadline of October 13 to players to prove their fitness.