NEW DELHI, Nov 30: Former Indian captain Sourav Ganguly, who was dropped from the national team amid poor form, was on Thursday recalled to restore the fortunes of the Indian side which has been playing disastrously in the ongoing tour of South Africa.

Right-handed batsman V.V.S. Laxman was named vice-captain of India's 16-member squad by India's five-member selection committee, chaired by its chief, Dilip Vengsarkar.

The team will play a three-Test series against South Africa, beginning Dec. 15. Ganguly, 33, was India's most successful captain. He has scored 5,221 runs in 88 Test matches at an average of 48.79, including 12 centuries.

His reign as national skipper lasted five years and included 21 Test wins and 76 limited-overs victories, but his leadership came under a cloud last year due to poor batting form and a public spat with coach Greg Chappell during a tour of Zimbabwe. He was replaced as captain by Rahul Dravid.

Ganguly's sacking was widely viewed as the end of an international career that began when he scored a century in his debut match against England at Lord's in 1996.

Ganguly said he was delighted to be back in the Indian team. “The point is to go and do well,” he said. “I have played for around 10 years now. Every game is a challenge, whether it's the first game or a Test series. It's a challenge for me.”

Squad: Rahul Dravid (captain), Vangipurrapu Laxman (vice-captain), Sachin Tendulkar, Saurav Ganguly, Wasim Jaffer, Gautam Gambhir, Virender Sehwag, Mahendra Dhoni, Dinesh Karthik, Munaf Patel, Zaheer Khan, Shanthakumaran Sreesanth, Vikram Rajvir Singh, Irfan Pathan, Anil Kumble, Harbhajan Singh.—Agencies