NEW DELHI, Oct 21: Ousted Indian captain Sourav Ganguly revived his faltering career with a sparkling century in domestic cricket on Friday. The left-hander smashed 18 boundaries and a six in his 117 playing for East Zone against North Zone in the Duleep Trophy first-class match in the western city of Rajkot.

Ganguly showed no signs of a recent elbow injury as he batted for four hours before edging a catch off leg-spinner Amit Mishra to the wicket-keeper.

The hundred could see Ganguly force his way back into the Indian team after being left out for the first two games of the seven-match limited-overs series against Sri Lanka starting on Tuesday.

Ganguly, dogged by poor form, injury and a spat with coach Greg Chappell in recent months, was axed as India captain last week and replaced by Rahul Dravid for the Sri Lankan series and the subsequent five matches against South Africa in mid-November.

He is only the fourth batsman in one-day cricket to complete 10,000 runs after compatriot Sachin Tendulkar, Sri Lankan Sanath Jayasuriya and Pakistan’s Inzamam-ul-Haq.

Ganguly, India’s most successful Test captain with 21 wins, could not only return to the one-day squad but also stay in the leadership race in case India falters under Dravid.

Ganguly contributed just 48 in three home Tests against Pakistan early this year.

He scored a century against Zimbabwe in the opening Test at Bulawayo last month, but his painstaking six-hour knock against the weakest attack in international cricket did not satisfy critics.

Ganguly and Chappell were involved in a bitter row in September with the coach saying in a leaked e-mail to Indian cricket chiefs that the captain was unfit to lead the team.—AFP