As Sourav Ganguly drove into Kolkata the day after being banned for six one-day matches, the hoardings must have come into his line of sight again and again. The advertisements of a cellular service provider featured Ganguly's vice-captain and mate in various fetching poses. All they said on lampost after lampost, billboard after billboard was this: Rahul's Waiting.

PICTURE SPEAK

TAKING A KNOCK: Sourav's poor form has raised questions

The cringe-making irony will be lost on no one, least of all on the besieged India captain whose world has imploded inside a year. Twelve months ago, he was drinking champagne in a plane over Islamabad, having topped off India's best-ever away season in decades with victory in Pakistan. He was India's most successful captain with a team that went into huddles, fought till the umpires called stumps and did not reveal secrets no matter who asked. The languid, aloof Calcuttan prince-turned-Bengali revolutionary was a colourful figure, a subcontinental scrapper in the tradition of Javed Miandad and Arjuna Ranatunga.

Today, his reputation as a batsman on shaky ground, his authority as leader weakened, Ganguly's summer just got hotter. After four heady years in his charge, his team's upward graph has flatlined in the fifth. Pakistan has been tougher than anticipated and India has not been tough enough. In Ahmedabad, even the teenaged net bowlers banged the ball in to Ganguly, as those standing nearby pretended not to notice. To blame collective failure on one man is not fair, but if anyone has epitomised India's current indecision, it is their captain.

Instead of picking the team up from the dust bowl in Gujarat, where they failed to defend a 315, and charging back at the Pakistanis, Ganguly was to be found with lawyers drafting an appeal against the ICC's six-match ban. It was the last place for a captain but he has been there twice in five months. Says a teammate, "The bowlers could get back to their marks quicker ... The slow over rate is the responsibility of the team. But Sourav has to lead it and set the right example."

In his steamy hometown, the resentment swirled: the selectors had not even waited before nominating the acting captain for the last two one-dayers against Pakistan. The speedy nomination of Dravid was a message from them. This was a message from the all-powerful Mr Dalmiya. This was a message, maybe, even from God.

TROUBLE

The ICC's ban means that Ganguly could miss four ODIs when the new season begins, putting his spot in jeopardy. Experts have seen signs of Ganguly's captaincy fraying at the edges against Pakistan. With batting form deserting even his one-day game, the left-hander is looking for help.

Someone should have paid more attention to the messages coming from the Indian change room. Regular members of the touring party say the mood shifted. Says one: "Unlike a year ago, today you can sense the tension over Sourav's form. When seniors go through a bad patch, they tend to sulk and it gets everybody down. But when it happens to the captain and the streak doesn't look like ending ..." After the drawn Test series, the one-dayers, which reward quick thinking, have taken their toll on Ganguly. Former Pakistan captain Ramiz Raja says he has seen signs of slackening control, citing the image of Ganguly standing at square leg in one game as Virender Sehwag (who was not bowling) set the field. "Generally Sourav is pumped up but not this time. When you're not in form, you become confused and it shows in your mental make-up. The ideas don't come at the pace they should."

An honest estimation of the left-hander's captaincy would place him somewhere between Napoleon and Noddy; neither quite as statesmanlike as the hagiographers would have you believe, nor quite as useless as habitual Ganguly-baiters like Bishan Singh Bedi emphasise. Because balance is so hard to find in Indian cricket, Ganguly was doomed to be either one or the other. In reality, he was an unusual brand of Indian captain whose ambitions outsprinted his ability. Raja says, "Sourav's strength was that he found assets for Indian cricket. It's not easy to be a good judge of talent." Hanumant Singh, former cricketer, says, "He has leadership qualities but I don't rate him high on strategy." A fellow player says, "His strength was man management, wanting to win and getting the right players picked somehow."

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Captains, no matter how revolutionary, must be in sync with their men because teams are like fussy house plants. In one season they may need the sun but in another the shade. In its nascent years, this team needed Ganguly's drive and bloody-mindedness. Today the demands of a growing organism are different and he seems too preoccupied to meet them. It is not part of a grand conspiracy but of a grander design. The question whether Ganguly needs the team or the team needs Ganguly more is today only rhetorical. Without Ganguly intending it, his team has found the men and methods to function without him.

So what must become of him? While many spoke in riddles, only former all-rounder Ravi Shastri said it plainly. After the Test series, Shastri wrote in a newspaper column that he considered Ganguly India's best captain after Tiger Pataudi but added, "Yet things have to move on ... If a change has to be made, the time seems to be ripe now."

Change could not be made because Ganguly was appointed the captain for the entire Pakistan series and the ICC's ban has given everyone the breather. Ganguly from the team, the team from his troubles and the selectors from making up their minds. Indian cricket is loath to take bold decisions or tough stands: which is why a man like Shastri was never made captain. Ganguly is himself a historical freak, who could stubbornly take on anyone and, in the words of a teammate, "never played safe". When he was named Indian vice-captain, a selector told Jagmohan Dalmiya that he had just issued trouble a personal invite.

WHO'S NEXT?

RAHUL DRAVID The bedrock of the batting line-up, senior pro, India's vice-captain has acted as makeshift captain in five Tests and 10 ODIs. VIRENDER SEHWAG The maverick opening bat was appointed vice-captain after Ganguly's ban, a tip that he is being sized up for the main job in the long run. ANIL KUMBLE Indian cricket's strong man may not be a regular starter in ODIs but his captaincy skills are well respected.

Indian selectors have been known to avoid making a choice for so long until there is no push, no shove, only the bitter aftertaste of a talent once delectable. After being cold-shouldered by his elders as a young player on the Indian team and sitting out in the wilderness, Ganguly swore he would be a different kind of senior. He kept his promise but he has been given a chance to extend it. As captain, he has done more than any other Indian and his are the records to beat: 19 wins (9 away) from 47 Tests, 73 wins in 141 ODIs, a World Cup final. His era may not have ended yet for he is a consummate escape artist, but his aura is fading. As a batsman his poor form has spread from the Tests to the one-day game but it is no surprise to Raja who says it is the rare batsman who can find his form in the one-day game where time is a luxury.

Now, Ganguly will be told that a good knock is around the corner. He will also be told the world has forgotten his contribution, is ganging up against him, kicking him when he is down, that his team has become ungrateful and his peers are just too ambitious. Not all of it will be wrong and some of it will not be right. But cursing the symptoms will neither help identify nor cure the ailment. Today, Ganguly is both patient and doctor.

During the 2003 World Cup and the away series against Pakistan, Ganguly spoke casually to a friend about quitting as captain. His captaincy this season may have saved him a spot on the Indian team but the time has come to contemplate this neat solution a little more carefully. If he chooses to stand down from the captaincy, Sourav Ganguly will definitely save its fraying legacy. He may even save his career.

INTERVIEW | KIRAN MORE

"You cannot count Sourav out" BCCI chairman of selectors and former wicketkeeper Kiran More spoke to Senior Editor Sharda Ugra. Q. Is the Indian team ready for a change of captaincy? A. Rahul Dravid is in charge for the last two games against Pakistan. There is still time. We are supporting Sourav-he has done well in the past. You cannot count him out. We're all hoping he comes back. The time will come to start thinking on those lines, and when that happens we will sit down and take a decision. Q. There is a belief that Indian selectors are not strong enough to take bold decisions ... A. I personally don't believe in that. I don't believe in drastic changes. I have played a lot, so I know how these things work. We will give people opportunities. We now have three wicketkeepers which is a good option. Q. The bold decision here is regarding the captaincy ... A. Sourav has done well-the team has looked good under his captaincy, it has looked strong. I know what's happening inside the team and there is no groupism in the team. Any decision about the captaincy won't be mine but the entire committee's. But we are not simply looking for short-term solutions, we are thinking of the future.

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