Ganguly is back as India's captain

Other members of the team to be named today.

Sourav Ganguly is the Indian cricket captain for the tour of Zimbabwe.

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The selection committee of the BCCI (Board of Control for Cricket in India) gave the throne back to the Maharaj from Rahul Dravid here on Friday, ending the suspense for cricket fans around the country.

The Zimbabwe tour will be on from August 24 to September 6. It comprises a tri-series, also featuring New Zealand, and two Tests.

BCCI secretary SK Nair announced the skipper's name after the five-man committee, headed by Kiran More, met and decided after nearly two hours of discussion.

However, Nair refused to divulge if Ganguly was a unanimous choice.

"The selectors had deliberations before they chose Ganguly. I don't want to give any more details," he said. Coach Greg Chappell was a surprise visitor to the venue, Mumbai's Taj Mahal hotel. Nair said that the Australian had a brief chat with More before the meeting. He, however, refused to comment on what the two talked about.

The selectors will meet again on Saturday afternoon to decide the team, Nair said. "We expect to select the team and announce it by 5.30 pm on Saturday," he said before adding that Ganguly and Chappell were expected to attend it.

Nair added that before the selectors meet they would, along with the captain and coach, discuss the recent performance of the team in Sri Lanka.

Nair said that before the team is selected, the committee would also ask the coach to give his feedback on the team. And the committee would also review the fitness report of players. This will be submitted by physio John Gloster.

Among the players Gloster is going to look at will be Sachin Tendulkar. Tendulkar was operated in May after suffering a tennis elbow and was ruled out of action for 16 weeks. With his appointment as captain Ganguly, India's most successful Test skipper with 19 wins from 47 matches, has got a chance to improve on that record.

Ganguly's one-day record as captain stands at 73 wins and 64 losses from 143 matches.

Musical chairs:

SOURAV GANGULY was replaced by Dravid towards the end of the one-day series loss to Pakistan at home. He was forced to sit out of the last two matches in the rubber as well as the first two league ties in the tri-series in Lanka. It followed a ban imposed by the ICC for India's slow over-rate in the series against Pakistan.

Ganguly returned to big-time cricket with a half-century as an opener in the third league match in Sri Lanka and in the process became only the third batsman after Sachin Tendulkar and Inzamam-ul-Haq to complete 10,000 runs in ODI.

HOW THE NEWS WENT DOWN.

"I just want to say, whoever is the captain, the team has to play well. We hope to do well in Zimbabwe. We need to improve our performance in the ODIs. We have not done well in the shorter version of the game in the past one year. I can't talk about changes now. I will have to discuss it."

--Sourav Ganguly

"It is totally unfair on (Rahul) Dravid. He is one of the best batsmen in the world at the moment and he did fairly well in his first series as captain. He certainly deserved a longer run."

--Dilip Vengsarkar (Former India skipper)

"Let's not talk about individuals. It doesn't matter who the captain is, what matters is the collective effort. Let's extend support to the man who has taken Indian cricket to a greater level. It would serve Indian cricket a great deal."

--Syed Kirmani (Former chairman of selectors)