NEWS
Follow UsIndia will take on South Africa in the T20 World Cup 2024 final in Bridgetown, Barbados, on June 29 (Saturday). This is the second World Cup final India will play in six months, both under the leadership of Rohit Sharma. Sourav Ganguly, under his stint as the BCCI president, persuaded Rohit to take over as the captain and says he is delighted to see the progress India have made since then.
"It took a lot of time to make him captain because he was not ready to be captain. It took a lot of pushing from all of us to make him captain and I'm very happy to see the progress of Indian cricket under him," Ganguly said in a chat with PTI.
While Ganguly acknowledges that winning the IPL can be tougher given that you have to win more matches in the tournament, the former India skipper says there is more glory in winning the World Cup.
"Rohit has the record of winning five IPL titles, which is a huge achievement. Winning an IPL sometimes is more difficult. Don't misquote me, I'm not saying IPL is better than international cricket," Ganguly said.
"But you have to win 16-17 [12-13] matches to win an IPL; here you need to win 8-9 matches to win a World Cup. The honour is more in winning the World Cup, and I hope Rohit does it tomorrow." "I don't think he can lose two World Cup finals in seven months. He will probably jump into the Barbados ocean if he loses two finals under his captaincy in seven months.
"He has led from the front and batted brilliantly, and I hope it continues tomorrow. Hope India finishes on the right side, and they should play with freedom. "They have been the best side of the competition. I wish them luck, I wish they win. Hope they have a little bit of luck tomorrow because that is required to win big tournaments," he further explained.
Since winning the 2013 Champions Trophy, India have not won a single ICC trophy despite coming close on multiple occasions. Ganguly, however, sees the positive side of things.
"I look at it differently. At least we are getting to the finals, we can only win once we get to the final," Ganguly, who led India to the 2003 World Cup final, said.
"The positive thing is India is not getting eliminated. Secondly, they are dominating. You saw the World Cup in India seven months ago; they were the best side in the competition, although they lost to Australia in the final.
"They were a better side than Australia right through the tournament; they just had one bad day."
Ganguly also pointed out that making it to the World Cup final is massive for South Africa.
"It's a huge moment for South African cricket. Imagine a team that came back to international cricket in 1992, and it took them 32 years to play in a World Cup final. So, it's going to be a big day for both teams," he said.
Virat Kohli has been out of form throughout the tournament. He has managed just 75 runs in seven innings at an average of 10.71 and a strike rate of 100. Despite his poor show, Ganguly believes Kohli should continue to open in T20 Internationals (T20I) going forward.
"Virat should continue to open. He just had a World Cup of 700 runs seven months ago. He is human. Sometimes, he will also fail, and you have to accept it," Ganguly reckons
"People like Kohli, [Sachin] Tendulkar, [Rahul] Dravid, they are institutions for Indian cricket. 3-4 matches don't make them weaker players. Don't rule him out in the final tomorrow."
India and South Africa are the only two unbeaten sides at the T20 World Cup. While a win for India on Saturday, will see them lift their first T20 World Cup since 2007, it will the first-ever World Cup title across formats for the Aiden Markram-led Proteas.
If you’ve not downloaded the Cricket.com app yet, you’re missing out — big time. Play Fantasy on Cricket.com NOW! Download the App here.
