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."