PTI 
 
Mumbai, Mar 19: The national selectors on Saturday gave a thumbs-up to the captaincy of Rahul Dravid on his 100th Test appearance here today by appointing him to the helm of the Indian team's affairs till the World Cup next year.
"The selectors met last night and appointed Dravid as captain till the 2007 World Cup," BCCI Secretary Niranjan Shah told reporters at the Wankhede Stadium after a felicitation ceremony ahead of the start of the third and final cricket Test against England.

Dravid was among three cricketers who were presented mementos by BCCI chief Sharad Pawar for crossing various milestones in their careers.

The Bangalore batsman first took over the captaincy from Sourav Ganguly for the tri-series in Sri Lanka last August but the southpaw came back to lead the side in Zimbabwe.

But immediately afterwards, Ganguly, the country's most successful Test skipper, was dumped by the selectors for the home rubber against Sri Lanka in which India triumphed 2-0 in the Test series and 6-1 in the one-dayers.

In between the two series against Sri Lanka, Dravid-led India drew 2-2 with South Africa in a best-of-five ODI series at home.

Dravid was appointed captain for the full tour of Pakistan and though India lost the Test rubber 0-1, Dravid inspired the squad to a 4-1 victory in the one-dayers.

The appointment of Dravid as captain till the World Cup, to be held in West Indies in March-April 2007, also means that the selectors have opted for continuity in the team's think tank with coach Greg Chappell already having been given a contract by the Board till the mega event.