Sourav Ganguly held on to the Indian captaincy for the forthcoming home internationals against Zimbabwe, which start on February 21. "Ganguly has performed satisfactorily," said Chandu Borde, the chairman of India's selectors, before revealing that Rahul Dravid and Anil Kumble were also considered for the job. This was the first time since Ganguly took over captaincy that any other name has been formally discussed. Speaking in Mumbai, Borde conceded that Ganguly's batting has been "less than satisfactory, but it looks like he is coming back into form. But we won the Test series against England, and drew the one-day series. Frankly, I thought we should have performed better, but Ganguly's overall track record is quite good."

Sachin Tendulkar, the man for the job according to Ravi Shastri and Bishan Singh Bedi, was not considered for the post because "there are rumours that he is not interested". There was no formal approach made to Tendulkar. At no stage of the 30-minute meeting were separate one-day and Test captains considered.

India have not lost a home Test series since Ganguly took over as captain in 2000 and memorably stunned Steve Waugh's Australians 2-1 last year. Ganguly has led India in eight home Tests, winning four, drawing three and losing one. The lone defeat came in the opening Test against Australia at Bombay.

His overseas record is poorer, however, with India losing Test series in South Africa and Sri Lanka and drawing a two-Test series in Zimbabwe last year.

Borde said that Rahul Dravid and Anil Kumble were also discussed at the selectors' meeting, but they kept faith in Ganguly. Kumble led India to victory in Ganguly's absence in a day-night match against England at Chennai last month.

Niranjan Shah, the Indian cricket board secretary, said that the team for the first Test against Zimbabwe would be picked at Delhi on Sunday. Zimbabwe will play two Tests and five one-day internationals during their tour of India. The Tests will be played at Nagpur and Delhi, followed by one-dayers at Faridabad, Mohali, Cochin, Hyderabad and Guwahati.

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