The five-man committee headed by former Test wicket-keeper Kiran More, named Ganguly captain for the tour of Zimbabwe later this month that includes a tri-series with New Zealand and two Tests against the hosts.

"It was an unanimous decision by the selectors to bring back Ganguly," Indian cricket board secretary Karunakaran Nair told reporters here.

Ganguly, 33, was preferred to his long-time deputy Rahul Dravid, India's most consistent batsmen in recent times and the reigning International Cricket Council (ICC) player of the year.

Dravid, 32, led India in the recent tri-series in Sri Lanka as Ganguly served out his ICC-imposed ban for slow over-rates during the home series against Pakistan in April.

Dravid's team defeated the second-string West Indies twice but lost three straight matches to the hosts, including Tuesday's day-night final by 18 runs at the Premadasa stadium in Colombo.

Ganguly's poor form with the bat, which has fetched the left-hander just 927 runs in his last 20 Test matches, had raised speculation that Dravid would get a longer term under new coach Greg Chappell.

Dravid scored 2,082 runs in the same period at an average of 74.35 to help lift India to number three in the Test rankings behind Australia and England.

The Indians, however, slipped to seventh in the one-day rankings despite reaching the World Cup final in South Africa in 2003.

Ganguly, who took over as captain in 2000, has led India to a record 19 wins in 47 Tests. He lost 13 matches while 15 were drawn.

In 142 one-dayers as captain, Ganguly has posted 73 victories, lost 64 while five ended in no-results.

A tough and uncompromising leader, Ganguly provided Indian cricket with some of its finest moments like the come-from-behind 2-1 series win at home over world champions Australia in 2001, a place in the World Cup final in 2003 and maiden Test and one-day series wins in Pakistan in 2004.

His 144 against Australia in the first Test in Brisbane inspired India to a creditable 1-1 draw in the away series against Steve Waugh's champions in 2003-04.

That brilliant century, however, was Ganguly's last at the international level as his batting form deserted him.

He was also hauled up for slow over-rates and forced to make way for Dravid in the last two one-dayers against Pakistan in April and the Sri Lankan tri-series.

Ganguly, who scored a Test century on debut against England at Lord's in 1996, has so far made 4,949 runs in 82 Tests at an average of 40.90 with 11 centuries.

In one-day cricket, Ganguly's 10,046 one-day runs from 274 matches make him one of only four batsmen alongwith compatriot Sachin Tendulkar, Pakistan's Inzamam-ul Haq and Sri Lanka's Sanath Jayasuriya to cross the 10,000-run mark.

The left-hander's 22 one-day centuries are second behind Tendulkar's record tally of 38.

The squad for the Zimbabwe tour will be named on Saturday.

India are due to host Sri Lanka, South Africa and England and tour Pakistan and the West Indies during the next nine months.