Former India captain Sourav Ganguly on Thursday said Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s boys were capable of shrugging off their World Twenty20 disappointment also would bounce back in the one-day International series against the West Indies, which kicks off on Friday.
“Sachin (Tendulkar), (Virender) Sehwag and Zaheer (Khan) will surely be missed… But I’m confident that the rest are quite capable of putting up a good performance against the West Indies as they are experienced in the ODIs,” Sourav Ganguly said at the felicitation of the youngsters at Videocon School of Cricket. The players recently won the Ambar Roy sub-junior meet, organised by the CAB.
He, though, had a word of caution for the Indian team. “West Indies are a good team. They have some quality players in Chris Gayle, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Dwayne Bravo and Shivnarine Chanderpaul who can change the outcome of a game. It’s going to be a tough series.”
Sourav Ganguly downplayed India’s not-too-impressive performance in the World Twenty20 saying that Team India had consistently done well in the shortest format of the game.
“They have been doing well for the last one and a half years and failure in just one tournament shouldn’t be blown up like this.
“There’s not much to ponder on that failure,” said the southpaw.
Sourav Ganguly, who recently began his innings as a commentator, put his weight behind skipper Dhoni.
“He has been handling the job quite well. You can’t judge him by one tournament,” he reasoned.
However, he bypassed the issue of Team India’s controversial ‘unity parade’ at Trent Bridge saying, “I wasn’t present there when it happened. But they are a good team… So, these things shouldn’t be an issue.”
Speaking on the much-talked about fatigue factor, Sourav Ganguly said: “I don’t think fatigue was a big issue. All professional players… Even we had to play many matches. The ICC calendar is such that you will have a crunch schedule and you will have to cope up with that.”
When queried whether players were hiding injuries to be in the team, he said: “It’s not so... I don’t think anyone hides injuries to play for the national team. All the players are honest and I don’t think anyone would like to cheat his country.”
While picking Australia as the favourites for the Ashes, Sourav Ganguly, who takes a keen interest in football, said he hoped Brazil to win the ongoing Confederations Cup in South Africa.
“Sachin (Tendulkar), (Virender) Sehwag and Zaheer (Khan) will surely be missed… But I’m confident that the rest are quite capable of putting up a good performance against the West Indies as they are experienced in the ODIs,” Sourav Ganguly said at the felicitation of the youngsters at Videocon School of Cricket. The players recently won the Ambar Roy sub-junior meet, organised by the CAB.
He, though, had a word of caution for the Indian team. “West Indies are a good team. They have some quality players in Chris Gayle, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Dwayne Bravo and Shivnarine Chanderpaul who can change the outcome of a game. It’s going to be a tough series.”
Sourav Ganguly downplayed India’s not-too-impressive performance in the World Twenty20 saying that Team India had consistently done well in the shortest format of the game.
“They have been doing well for the last one and a half years and failure in just one tournament shouldn’t be blown up like this.
“There’s not much to ponder on that failure,” said the southpaw.
Sourav Ganguly, who recently began his innings as a commentator, put his weight behind skipper Dhoni.
“He has been handling the job quite well. You can’t judge him by one tournament,” he reasoned.
However, he bypassed the issue of Team India’s controversial ‘unity parade’ at Trent Bridge saying, “I wasn’t present there when it happened. But they are a good team… So, these things shouldn’t be an issue.”
Speaking on the much-talked about fatigue factor, Sourav Ganguly said: “I don’t think fatigue was a big issue. All professional players… Even we had to play many matches. The ICC calendar is such that you will have a crunch schedule and you will have to cope up with that.”
When queried whether players were hiding injuries to be in the team, he said: “It’s not so... I don’t think anyone hides injuries to play for the national team. All the players are honest and I don’t think anyone would like to cheat his country.”
While picking Australia as the favourites for the Ashes, Sourav Ganguly, who takes a keen interest in football, said he hoped Brazil to win the ongoing Confederations Cup in South Africa.
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