Former Indian skipper Sourav Ganguly believes Indian Premier League is a good breeding ground for developing the next Indian captain citing the emergence of Hardik Pandya’s brilliant captaincy for Gujarat Titans in IPL 2022. Hardik Pandya has shown the potential to lead India in the limited opportunities as a captain.
Sourav Ganguly, who will be part of Delhi Capitals as Director of cricket, spoke exclusively to Times of India, about the Indian national team, the Injury to Rishabh Pant, the potential Indian captaincy option post-Rohit Sharma, and many more things. Speaking on India’s captaincy option, Ganguly said.
“IPL is a good breeding ground. We have seen how well Hardik Pandya has captained the IPL. That’s one of the reasons he has been captaining India in the shorter formats also. You can’t ignore wins and losses in the IPL because it’s a very tough tournament,” Sourav Ganguly said.
Pandya’s reputation as captain has increased in the last year or so after he led Gujarat Titans to the IPL title in their first-ever season. He received appreciation from all over for the way he captained the team as well as led the team from the very front.
Following the success in IPL, he led Team India in T20Is on several occasions in Rohit’s absence and did a decent job as well. In 11 T20Is as captain, he has led India to victories in an impressive 8 matches. Post-2022 world cup India has trusted Hardik Pandya to lead the young-looking Indian T20 side with an eye on the future for the 2024 T20 World Cup.
Hardik Pandya has been backed by several experts and fans to become India’s full-time limited-overs captain once Rohit Sharma’s reign comes to an end.
I Don’t See A Problem – Sourav Ganguly On Indian Player’s Work Load Management
Former BCCI president Sourav Ganguly feels the Indian players will be fine going into the 2023 cricketing season and thinks India has a 10-day break post IPL 2023 to get themselves ready ahead of the WTC finals against Australia in England.
“I think players should be fine. I don’t see a problem. Yes, there’s a lot of cricket. The scheduling is like that. That’s the way it is. Players will play. I don’t see a problem. When it comes to the World Test Championship final, they anyway get 10-day breaks after IPL. I think they will manage,” Sourav Ganguly said.
The BCCI is reportedly set to monitor the workload of Team India players during the upcoming edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL 2023). According to the reports, the IPL franchise is to handle the Indian team players with care as the Indian team is scheduled to play the WTC final in June and followed by an all-important ODI World Cup in India in October-November.