Former India captain Sourav Ganguly on Friday said Rohit Sharma’s leadership skills have played a key role in India’s unbeaten run in the ongoing T20 World Cup and urged the team to come out on top in the final against South Africa to end their 11-year wait for an ICC trophy. India will face the Proteas in the final clash in Bridgetown, Barbados, eyeing their first global trophy since winning the Champions Trophy in 2013. “I am very happy for Rohit Sharma. Life comes a circle. Six months ago he wasn’t even the captain of Mumbai Indians and the same person is now leading India to the World Cup final, keeping them unbeaten,” Ganguly said after being named as Veedol’s brand ambassador.
The former BCCI president revealed that Rohit was reluctant to take up the captaincy role after Virat Kohli stepped down.
“He has played two World Cup finals where he remained undefeated in the finals. This shows his captaincy and leadership ability and I am not surprised at all because he became captain when I was the BCCI president and when Virat did not want to captain India,” he said.
“It took a long time to make him captain because he was not ready for captaincy. We all pushed very hard to make him captain and I am very happy to see the progress of Indian cricket under his leadership.” Ganguly said winning the IPL title can sometimes be more challenging because of the duration of the tournament.
“Rohit has the record of winning five IPL titles, which is a great achievement. Sometimes winning the IPL is more difficult. Don’t get me wrong, I am not saying that IPL is better than international cricket.
“But you have to win 16-17 (12-13) matches to win the IPL; here you have to win 8-9 matches to win the World Cup. There is more respect in winning the World Cup, and I hope Rohit does that tomorrow.” “I don’t think he can lose two World Cup finals in seven (six) months. If he loses two finals under his captaincy in seven months, he will probably jump into the sea in Barbados. He has led from the front, batted brilliantly, and I hope it continues tomorrow as well. Hopefully India will finish on the right side, and they should play with freedom.
“They have been the best team in the tournament. I wish them all the best, I hope they win. Hopefully they will get some luck tomorrow because that is what is needed to win big tournaments,” Ganguly said.
Since winning the Champions Trophy, India have reached the 2014 T20 World Cup, the 2023 50-over World Cup and the WTC Final twice but have failed to win any of these matches.
He said, “I look at it from a different perspective. At least we are reaching the final, we can win only if we reach the final.”
“The positive thing is that India are not getting eliminated. Secondly, they are dominating. You would have seen the World Cup that took place in India seven months ago; they were the best team in the competition, although they lost to Australia in the final.
He said, “They were a better team than Australia throughout the tournament, they just had one bad day.”
Ganguly said that this is a big moment for South African cricket that they have reached the World Cup final for the first time after returning to international cricket after 32 years.
He said, “This is a huge moment for South African cricket. Imagine a team that returned to international cricket in 1992 and it took 32 years to play the World Cup final. So, it is going to be a big day for both teams.”
Star batsman Virat Kohli has been performing well as an opener in this World Cup but Ganguly feels he should not bat at number three.
“Virat should continue opening. He scored 700 runs in the World Cup just seven months ago. He is also a human being. Sometimes he also fails and you have to accept it.”
Ganguly said, “People like Kohli, (Sachin) Tendulkar, (Rahul) Dravid are institutions for Indian cricket. Three-four matches do not make them weak players. Don’t leave them out in tomorrow’s final.”
India became a major power by its performance
Former England captain Michael Vaughan has criticised the ICC, accusing it of favouring India at a spin-friendly venue in the World Cup semi-final in Guyana.
Vaughan also accused the broadcasters of giving India the favourable timing of 8 pm IST for all the matches.
Rejecting such claims, Ganguly said: “Michael Vaughan is a very close friend of mine. I don’t know how the ICC helps India win cricket matches by broadcasting at 8 pm IST in the evening. I don’t know how broadcasting helps you win cricket matches. You still have to play on the field and win.” “Secondly, I don’t know why Guyana is considered a place to win when they have gone and won everywhere.” Ganguly underlined his point by saying that India’s consistent performance on the field makes them a major force.
“Yes, India is a major force in world cricket, because of its performances, its broadcasting and the money it brings in.”
He said, “You know that if you have 80 per cent shares of a company, you will get more dividends and profits than others. This is the law of life. The situation is the same in India also.”
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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