Failure spurs one and success spurns the other.

At the start of the Test series between India and Pakistan, Sourav Ganguly [Images] and Younis Khan were as unlike each other as possible.

They still are the same. But the roles have reversed with an alacrity that would surprise even the most astute observer.

Destiny, they say, plays a huge part in how things eventually turn out. But I beg to differ; destiny alone can do nothing. It has to be buffered up by hard work or serious ineptitude.

Before the Mohali Test began, Ganguly was a confident man; confident in his team's ability to win at home; confident in his ability to ride over the rough patch and bat himself back into form against a second string Pakistan bowling attack.

Younis Khan, on the other hand, was a marked man. Even though he was promoted to vice-captain, his place in the side was questioned. Former players questioned his ability to play match-winning knocks, indicating that he is only good enough to score "30-40 useless runs".

Ganguly earned his stripes in the home series against Australia in 2001 where his untamed aggression regularly lifted the team to perform and sustain a very high level of cricket.

In that series, the Indian skipper struggled with the bat. In fact, he averaged only 17.66 (106 runs in 6 innings) during the series. But such was the effect of his captaincy that it blew all doubters away.

The Pakistan vice-captain has never quite had the sublime batting talent of Ganguly. A Pathan, who hails from Peshawar, Younis never quite learned how to take a backward step.

But at Mohali, it looked as if Younis might not survive for very long. He dropped catches; failed with the bat and Inzamam-ul Haq seemed to turn to former vice-captain Yousuf Youhana for advice whenever the opportunity presented itself. Younis looked, and felt, like a man on his last leg.

But from the very depths of despair, he began his own surreal transformation from an apparent discard to his current status as the Pakistan team's go-to guy. He started making all the right decisions. Standing at short-leg, in the face of immediate danger, he inspired his teammates and took brilliant catches so much so that his influence seemed to overshadow that of Inzamam on the playing field.

Ganguly's weak excuses only convinced one that his time was up. There was a time when watching the Indian skipper charge down the track to spinners was perhaps the most compelling sight in cricket. Now, he awaits the impending doom with his feet nailed to the crease.

Human beings are the creatures of desire. They twist and bend as required provided they have the will. One wonders if,somewhere along the line, Ganguly has a feeling of satisfaction about what he has achieved as captain. And that feeling in turn has robbed him of his best quality -- aggression.

"Failures make you more responsible. Our defeat in the second Test made me realise that as a senior player I have a duty to perform," said Younis, after he scored a determined 267 during the Bangalore Test.

And how did Ganguly respond to failure?

He succumbed meekly. The Indian skipper seems to be so cowed that he can't fight back, and it is high time he does.

Despite being in probably the worst form of his career, he continues to maintain that he doesn't see this as a slump. Confidence is one thing, but the failure to accept your faults and work on them is completely another.

Can India have a skipper who lives in a constant state of denial?

Younis Khan has done India a favour by showing Ganguly the way to attaining lost glory. But will the Indian skipper be man enough to follow?

Mail Ashish Magotra