Former Indian cricket captain Sourav Ganguly on Saturday said he believed he still "has it in him" to make a comeback in the national side.

But Ganguly qualified his faith in self by saying that the ultimate decision of course would be of selectors, the captain and the coach.

Ganguly, mellowed and a far cry from the agressive-bordering-on-arrogant captian he used to be not so long ago, also regretted some of the things he could have avoided saying in the aftermath of his exclusion from the Indian team.

Sourav, taking part in a joint session along with Bollywood director Karan Johar at the fourth HT Leadership Summit, said prospects of his playing for the country again depended on the "outlook" of the team management. Hindustan Times Editorial Director Vir Sanghvi conducted the session.

"If they think I'm not good enough, they will think otherwise. Else, why not? I have got a hundred in the domestic cricket. And I'm trying my level best to come up to their expectations."

He said while the nation wants to view a captain or a player as a role model ("nice boys"), "sometimes situations demand you to act differently". He was referring to some on-field incidents associated with him while drawing a cricketing parallel with Karan Johar's "KANK", in which the director deviated from his formula of silken family romance to explore a controversial subject like infidelity.

Rahul Dravid also got a vote of confidence from Ganguly who said it was important for fans to be patient and give the Indian captain more time to handle the job of captaining the Indian team, which he described as the toughest in the world of cricket. He said captains needed time to mature and it was necessary to give Dravid time to grow into the job.

"He is a great player. I think it is important that any captain has to be given time. Captaining India is the hardest thing," Ganguly said.

"Most important thing is time. People should be patient and the results will be there," Ganguly said.

The stylish Bengal batsman said Dravid would be under some pressure now because the team was going through a lean phase. "How you handle your failures will decide your future."

"Everybody will have weaknesses. You will be criticised when the team is not doing well. The captain is taken up and brought down more quickly," he said.

Recalling his days as a captain, Ganguly said addressing press conferences after a defeat was very difficult. "To go into a press conference after losing a match was the toughest thing. There will be a barrage of questions mostly on the negative side," he said.

Ganguly rated Brian Lara as the best captain, ahead of Ricky Ponting, Steve waugh and Stephen Fleming. "I rate Sachin and Lara as the best batsmen," he added.