Is it time for the 'Prince of Calcutta' to give up his reign?

Despite leading India to victory in home Test series against Australia and England last year, Ganguly has come in for criticism for the team's continuing failures overseas.

Ganguly's exit from the day-night match against England, due to a thigh strain, has opened the door to an unlikely successor.

At first glance, humble and softly-spoken Kumble appears the last person to want to take on the fanatical fans and bickering governing bodies that are endemic to Indian cricket.

But an impressive display, including taking two wickets, saw a calm and collected Kumble inspire India on the field.

Should Ganguly give way to Kumble?

Kumble is a fantastically aggressive thinking cricketer. His captaincy during the match against England was in complete contrast to Ganguly's arrogance and defensiveness. Ganguly is past it. He is not captaincy material. You need an aggressive, team minded individual to captain a successful cricket team.

The last great Indian captain was Kapil Dev. He was a thinking, team minded individual like Kumble, to whom team success was the number one priority. Kumble should be given the job immediately, and with it a good year's preparation to groom India ready for lifting the World Cup!
Rishi Ruparelia, UK

The fickleness of our Indian cricket enthusiasts - not to mention the media - is truly amazing. We seem to have so quickly forgotten that just a year ago, despite his own poor form, it was Ganguly who off the field gave Steve Waugh's Australians as good as he got, and on the field got the best out of his team to fashion an historic comeback victory.

We also seem to ignore the fact that in spite of everything Ganguly's record is one of the best of any Indian captain. Let us not revert to playing musical chairs with our cricket captaincy.
Daraius Ardeshir, India

Kumble or no Kumble will not make a difference to India's fortune. What the team needs is fighting spirit, and a never say die attitude. Once that kind of an attitude is present amongst the players - be it Kumble, Ganguly, Sachin, or Dravid, results will be in favour of India.
Sid, USA

Ganguly should take a break and work on his game. Kumble captained India very well in his first game and should be retained with the World Cup in mind.
Sharath, USA

Yes - he's much more astute tactically, and Ganguly would no doubt bat better without the responsibility.
Graham O'Reilly, France

Kumble's captaincy was positive and imaginative; all that Ganguly's was not. Time for Ganguly to go.
Ganesh, UK

Not at all. Just one victory is not proof of someone's excellence.
Keyur Desai, India

The question here is can Kumble do a better job than Ganguly has done? The answer is no. In Ganguly we have a captain who is not afraid to counter aggressive opponents like Steve Waugh. He has had no success abroad, but which Indian captain has? All we need is his form to get back to normal. With the World Cup coming up in 2003 the last thing we need now is a change.
Subhasish, India

I think it's too early to jump to conclusions that Kumble is a good captain on the basis of just one match. We all know Kumble has struggled outside India. As for Ganguly going defensive, I think its much to do with his batting than anything else.

But Kumble's good showing in the third ODI has done one good thing: now Ganguly knows there is someone breathing down his neck who is capable of displacing him and this would put pressure on Ganguly.

Having said that, I am sure Ganguly will come through this with flying colours because we have known him to be a fighter and he has always responded well to pressure situations.
Pramod, India/USA

Thanks, but no thanks. Ganguly is still the best to lead India. All he needs is one big score and his critics will be forced to eat their own words. And please no comparison with Steve Waugh. Sourav is much better person than the arrogant, insensitive Aussie.
Rajeev, USA/India

The last time a bowler was captain of India was Kapil Dev and we won the World Cup. Kumble, like Kapil, is one of the most successful bowlers of all time. He might have not performed too well abroad, but I don't think anyone has been splendid stepping abroad.

Ganguly does not command the respect that he used to have in the dressing room. A senior player, calm and composed, well respected, and having taken more than 300 wickets for his country, is the man for the job.
George, USA/India

India needs a captain badly. One who can lead with a clever cricket brain. Perhaps Ganguly should make way for Kumble.
Devdas, Zimbabwe

Let us thank Ganguly for his contributions and pass the baton to Kumble. It's not that Ganguly was a bad captain, but off late he has been losing grip both as a batsman and as a leader.

Aggression became arrogance which is the root cause of his slide. Anil Kumble is a calm, composed and total team player and has great leadership qualities. Let him take over now and groom the team towards the next World Cup and winning ways...
R.B.Menon, Netherlands

Rather than Kumble, I would like to see Sachin given the captaincy. He has an excellent cricketing brain and would surely be a great captain.

His earlier stint as a captain was under tough circumstances against tough opponents. He surely deserves another opportunity under home conditions to establish himself.
Rama M, India

I beg to differ. I think that Saurav Ganguly is a very good captain, and he has an attitude, like Steve Waugh has. You don't need to be a kind hearted or a polite individual to make a good cricket captain. Sachin failed as a captain, big time.
Bobby Lai, Hongkong

Absolutely. It's time for Ganguly to go. Kumble has been very impressive in the third one-dayer. He is a great sportsman and competitor, unlike Ganguly who is only consumed with self-interest. I'd say drop Ganguly for a while from the team.
Vidhata, India

Despite Kumble winning today's match against England as captain, you can't call him up to the stage just yet. Maybe he should captain a few more games first, if Ganguly remains injured for the rest of the tournament and Kumble does well as captain for the remaining three matches, then we can discuss whether he should take on the responsibility.

Despite all this talk of captaincy, I believe Ganguly has done the best he can as captain and he has that little bit of arrogance, which every good captain should have. His record as captain does not do him justice, but having seen him stop the Australians winning a Test match took a lot of courage.
Amit Patel, UK

These are early days lets not rush and make hasty decisions. One swallow does not a summer make.
Ashwin, Zimbabwe

There is no point in replacing Ganguly. Outside India Kumble has problems taking wickets. So once India starts touring again, we will be back to square one with a captain who fails to perform abroad.
Saurabh, UK

I really don't think Ganguly has the stuff to make a good captain. His tactics are mainly defensive in nature as seen in the recent Test matches with England. He is an excellent batsman and he should focus on that.

Kumble has always shown remarkable commitment and a calm mind and should be given a chance. Based on his captaincy of the 3rd ODI against England he seems to be more attack minded. India needs a strong captain as they have a talented team with the likes of Tendulkar and Shewag, to mention a few.
Riju Thomas, Stoneham, USA

Saurav Ganguly has not led India to convincing victories. If India had won matches during his reign, it was not because of his captaincy. He should definitely step down. Moreover, Ganguly displayed a lack of form in the recent past and the Indian selectors should reconsider their decision of dropping VVS Laxman and drop Ganguly instead.
Ravi, India/US

Kumble is an intelligent thinking man's cricketer and those are the qualities of a captain and he is without the added burden of being a batsman. Ganguly needs to concentrate on improving his batting, which of late has been appalling.
ST Punjab, India

I have always thought Kumble would be a good choice as a captain. What with the amount of pressure that an Indian captain has to face, Anil with his calm disposition and humility, but a raging bull inside has the perfect demeanour for such a demanding job. Moreover it will help Ganguly, a fantastic batsman, to concentrate on his batting and regain his stature, which will take a lot of pressure off Sachin.

Also Anil has shown qualities of an attacking captain, through his field placing and actions, which gives confidence to his team-mates, and makes him more approachable than Saurav. Green light for Anil Kumble.
Saugy Chakraborty, USA

I think after so many failures Sourav should hand over the cap to Anil. As Jumbo is very one of lead players in Indian team, and having a great experience of Test and one dayers, he can manage team performance better than Ganguly. He proved it today in Cheenai.
Pryank, India

Kumble deserves a chance, Ganguly has lost his batting form and he is under enormous pressure. Sachin had the same problem too. They are better off without it. India cannot afford to loose the best batting openers. Rahul Dravid is also in very poor form and he could be removed from Indian one-day cricket team.
Sreekanth, USA/India