By Punjabi Playa
November 27 2006

Following another abject surrender by the Indian team in South Africa, fans are asking if the return of Sourav Ganguly -- who has just taken a weak Bengal to victory against powerful Punjab -- to the helm might bring back some pride to the team. I reckon it's high time all this nonsense stopped.

We Indians adore and support Team India, and deserve to see a decent effort by them on the field.

Rahul Dravid is one the best players India has ever had. In fact, he is one of the best batsmen of all time. But he is not captain material.

Nobody likes losing. But even in losses, let's show some fight. Have pride, have passion, have fight -- if you must die, then die fighting!

When Sourav Ganguly was captain, we saw that passion. He didn't like losing -- he hated it. He fought tooth and nail to bring steel to indian cricket, and he succeeded!

Maybe towards the end, his own average went down -- but he was winning Test matches abroad that India weren't before. We beat Pakistan in Pakistan; we should have beaten the Aussies in Australia if not for one-sided umpiring! This was far beyond anything Indian cricket had achieved before, and we were being talked about as the second-best team during his last 2 years.

Chappell should have built on this. Kicking Ganguly out was foolish! He is the coach, and his job was to try and help Sourav improve his technique.

Indian cricket has gone backwards. Answer? Sack Chappell. Sorry Greg, but you have to go!

Reinstate Ganguly as captain, Rahul as vice-captain, and let Ganguly have the team he wants. But insist that all players pull their weight -- even the great Sachin Tendulkar or Virender Sehwag.

We are the best supporters in the world. We want a fighting team; a united and happy team; and a team that's clearly giving 100% on the field.