India's World Cup defeat is history. Fans are gradually getting on with the life and Team India can expect a smooth landing back home. However, with the kind of passion the first round defeat has generated among even some BCCI members, it may be difficult for Dravid to hold on to his position as captain. Selectors will duly take the call on him but statistically speaking, Dravid has been as good, if not better, than most other Indian captains. It is only in tests that Sourav Ganguly has been head and shoulders above the other Indian captains in Post-Gavaskar era, with a win percentage of 42.86. Indian captains in Tests (Post-Gavaskar)
| Names | Matches | Won | Lost | Drawn/Tied | Won% | | Kapil Dev | 34 | 4 | 7 | 22/1 | 11.76% | | M Azharuddin | 47 | 14 | 14 | 19 | 29.79% | | SR Tendulkar | 25 | 4 | 9 | 12 | 16.00% | | SC Ganguly | 49 | 21 | 13 | 15 | 42.86% | | R Dravid | 20 | 6 | 6 | 8 | 30.00% |
Rahul Dravid scores 30, which is better than what Azhar, another of India's most successful captains, achieved despite Kumble being in peak form during the victorious home campaigns in mid-nineties. Dravid is still doubly more successful against Tendulkar, and three times more, compared to Kapil Dev. Besides, under Dravid, India has played five tests series winning against Sri Lanka at home and West Indies abroad. And it was just the sheer brilliance of the South Africans which prevented India from at least drawing the test series. India could have won at Karachi too but for the failure of the bowlers to finish off the Pak tail on day one, after Pathan's first over hat trick led to Pakistan reeling at 39 for six at one stage. In the ODIs, Dravid is again on par with India's best despite the team losing its way in the later half of 2006, and then in the World Cup. Indian captains in ODIs | Names | Matches | Won | Lost | Drawn/Tied | Won% | | Kapil Dev | 74 | 40 | 32 | 2 | 54.05% | | M Azharuddin | 173 | 89 | 76 | 6/2 | 51.45% | | SR Tendulkar | 73 | 23 | 43 | 6/1 | 31.51% | | SC Ganguly | 146 | 76 | 65 | 5 | 52.05% | | R Dravid | 65 | 33 | 28 | 4 | 50.77% |
In his 65 ODI matches, Dravid has a respectable winning percentage of 51 despite all the experimentations, which were taking place from time to time. He also did not have India's most experienced player, a fit Tendulkar most of the time. Now compare this with Tendulkar's 32 per cent success rate - just one win in every three matches! Even India's most successful ODI captain Kapil Dev stands at 54 - only three per centage points above Dravid. Interestingly, Ganguly and Dravid are exactly on par after 65 ODIs with Tendulkar way behind. So Dravid should still be the favourite among the three Three Contenders (After 65 ODIs)
| Names | Matches | Won | Lost | Drawn/Tied | Won% | | SR Tendulkar | 65 | 22 | 36 | 6/1 | 33.85% | | SC Ganguly | 65 | 33 | 32 | 0 | 50.77% | | R Dravid | 65 | 33 | 28 | 4 | 50.77% |
As regular captain, Dravid was having a brilliant run till the West Indies tour with a success rate of 70 per cent. It was indeed the golden period of his captaincy when nothing seemed to be going wrong.
Four Phases of Dravid as ODI Captain | Phases | Matches | Won | Lost | No Result | Won% | | As a stop-gap captain | 12 | 5 | 6 | 1 | 41.67% | | Regular captain (Jul 2005 to Apr 2006) | 27 | 19 | 8 | 0 | 70.37% | | Regular captain (May 2006 to Dec 2006) | 15 | 3 | 10 | 2 | 20.00% | | Regular captain (in 2007) | 11 | 6 | 4 | 1 | 54.55% |
But even if we just take Dravid's worst phase, that is from May 2006 till the disappointing World Cup campaign, Dravid has won 9 out of 26 matches - a success rate of 34.6 per cent. This rate is still three percentage point better than Tendulkar's overall record. So the verdict is clear. Dravid deserves to stay considering Sourav is not getting any younger. Despite some tactical problems, which the selection committee will duly analyse, he is still among the very best captains that India has produced. | 
