KOLKATA: Former Indian ODI skipper Ajay Jadeja feels Sourav Ganguly should lead the side in the coming World Cup in the West Indies as he was best suited for the role.
"Ganguly should captain the World Cup side. I have always maintained that if Ganguly is in the team, he should be the captain. He has always been a great captain," Jadeja told newspersons.
However, in the same breath, he said it was too early to pass judgement on Rahul Dravid's captaincy.
"He should be given more time," Jadeja said.
The 35-year-old batsman, who led India in 13 one-dayers, said Ganguly should have found a place in the ODI team in South Africa.
The national selectors, who had ignored Ganguly in both forms of the game for most part of the year, finally included him in the Test side in South Africa after the Indians were decimated 4-0 in the preceding one-day engagement.
The left-hander justified the faith reposed in him by coming out with a solid half-century that rescued India from the pits and enabled the side win their first-ever Test on South African soil.
Jadeja described Ganguly's return to Test cricket as a great comeback.
"In the first Test he played creditably. Not many people thought that he was capable of such a comeback, but Ganguly applied himself well," Jadeja said on the sidelines of a function at Ganguly's cricket academy.
Jadeja, whose international career came to a halt in 2000 after he was slapped a five-year ban on allegations of match-fixing, cautioned the media not to get too "emotional" about the wins and losses of the Indian team.
"If we win one match, you become exuberant, and say what a great victory. Again if we lose a match, you start saying negative things," said the right-hander, known for his athleticism, strokeplay and disarming smile.
Asked whether it was Ganguly's presence that lifted the morale of the squad after the performance in the one-day series, he avoided a direct reply.
"Yes, the team has done well in the first Test. But I don't know whether it was due to Ganguly's influence or not," he said.
But he added that as skipper Ganguly did play a big role in giving shape to the team that did well in the early part of the decade.
Jadeja was here as selector for a talent hunt cum reality show 'Cricket Star' organised by Investors in Cricket.
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