Mumbai, March 28: Chief selector Dilip Vengsarkar has come to the defence of Rahul Dravid after the skipper came under fire for his team`s first-round elimination at the World Cup.
India, runners-up in the last edition, crashed out in the Caribbean last week after losing two out of three group matches, to Bangladesh and former champions Sri Lanka.
Irate fans in the cricket-crazy country have demanded the axe fall on Dravid and coach Greg Chappell.
"He is an experienced campaigner and has all the leadership qualities," Vengsarkar told a national daily on Wednesday.
Vengsarkar recalled former Australia captain Richie Benaud`s comments on the role of the captain: "Captaincy is 90 percent luck and 10 percent ability."
"He (Dravid) has done quite well thus far. After all, as they say, a captain is only as good as his team."
Vengsarkar said the defeat to Bangladesh was a one-off.
"I feel Bangladesh played its best cricket in that match. I am positive if India plays Bangladesh in the future, it will win nine out of 10 matches.
"But nobody knows what will happen in that one match. That`s the uncertainty of cricket. Whatever the Bangladeshis did in that match clicked."
The Indian cricket board is to analyse the national team`s World Cup performance at a meeting next week.
The team, winners in 1983, had been touted as one of the favourites and were expected to get to the semi-finals at least.
The seven-week World Cup, the first to be played in the Caribbean, culminates in the Barbados final on April 28.
Bureau Report
