Former Indian captain Sourav Ganguly has predicted that India will surely make it to the last four of ICC World Cup 2015. He added that the other teams achieving this feat would be Australia, New Zealand and South Africa.
Ganguly does not believe that India is too much dependent on Virat Kohli. He explained, “In One-day Internationals, there are a lot of match winners. Rohit Sharma is one, his 100 in Melbourne (Second ODI of the tri-series against Australia) was remarkable.”
He also opined that India has got a very good chance of going all the way in the World Cup by saying, “Yeah, I do give them a chance. In one-day cricket, I always give India a chance and with the format, we just have to get to the quarterfinals and then three games…anybody’s game.”
Ganguly emphasized on the fact that Indian players need to stay fresh. He added, “It’s been a long tour…four Tests in Australia where you’ve been battered, you been hit hard. The bowlers have run in and bowled 500 runs in every Test match, 300 runs in second innings whenever Australia has batted.”
He stated that Indian bowlers must have gotten some rest by adding, “So you can see it on Mohammad Shami and Umesh Yadav. When you see their body, you can make outt from outside that they are tired. That’s why I said in one of my interviews that I hope India don’t qualify for the tri-series so that it gives them a break. I would rather have wanted them to come back for 3-4 days…unpack and then go back and play the World Cup.”
Showing serious concerns over Indian death bowling, he elaborated, “To be honest, at the moment it is only one Mohammad Shami, who I think is a very good death bowler. I expect a lot from Umesh Yadav. I think he is an under achiever, he is lot better bowler than what we see. The way Bhuvneshwar Kumar has bowled in one day matches and Tests, he is not the Bhuvneshwar Kumar in England or the way we have seen in other parts of the world. I don’t know whether he is still recovering from his injury.”
When asked his opinion on the pitch conditions, he said, “It may be at the end of the season, but wickets in World Cup would be prepared well, you won’t get rank turners. Curators will prepare good pitches. There will be bounce, there will be carry. India will play West Indies in Perth, so different condition will have different bowlers and once you go to knockout stage, it depends on where you play and you decide.”
Ganguly insisted on the need of prime role to be played by MS Dhoni by stating, “He has to marshal his team, in 2011 Dhoni had Sachin (Tendulkar), (Virender) Sehwag, Yuvraj (Singh), and they all were experienced players, match winners. This is young side, young team, they all are trying to find their feet. Only Kohli is stand out other than the captain in one-day cricket. When your team is not playing well then you have to find a way to get your team going, I was fortunate as I had Sachin, (Anil) Kumble, (Rahul) Dravid, (Javagal) Srinath and the likes. Every captain goes through ups and downs and his role is very important, as in last two months Indian team has not done well.”
With the strong and encouraging words from Ganguly, every single fan hopes that team India does well.