The former India captain and the president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), Sourav Ganguly has looked back at the criticism he received after appointing Rohit Sharma as the new India captain, at the end of a poor T20 World Cup 2021 in the United Arab Emirates.
The blue brigade went through a tough time in that tournament and had a group-stage exit, after losing their first two games- against Pakistan and New Zealand. Once Virat Kohli was forced to step down from the leadership role of all formats of the game, Ganguly advocated for Rohit to be the new captain of the national side.
The fans didn’t receive it positively, as the former BCCI president- Sourav Ganguly was hammered by the fans on social media platforms, after Kohli’s press conference, where he claimed to be forcefully removed from the captaincy position of the Indian team.
‘I want DC to win this time’- Sourav Ganguly
Rohit Sharma brought a great change in the way the national team used to play the shortest format of the game. ‘The fear of failure’ was the first thing that was erased from the culture of the side, as they looked to be aggressive in the powerplay with the bat in hand.
The India opener raised his hand for the role and looked to go against the new balls from the start, and he kept doing that throughout the 2022 Men’s T20 World Cup and finally went on to carry the side to the champions tag. Whatever decisions he took, in the middle, seemed to be working for the team.
When Kohli made that statement to the media on his captaincy, Sourav Ganguly told the press that Virat was taken out of the role after having a mutual agreement between the two parties.
The Kolkata-born now has made another explosive statement hitting at the critics to make them look at the India team’s captaincy record of Rohit Sharma. He said that as the national team has been celebrating the T20 World Cup 2024, everyone has forgotten that it was he who made Rohit the captain of the Indian team.
‘When I handed Rohit Sharma the captaincy of the Indian team, everyone criticized me. Now that India has won the T20 World Cup under the captaincy of Rohit Sharma, everyone has stopped abusing me for it.’ Sourav Ganguly expressed in an interview with the Bengali daily ‘Ajkaal’. ‘In fact, I think everyone has forgotten that it was I who appointed him as the captain of the Indian team.’
The Delhi Capitals (DC) have also announced the news of them parting ways with their head coach Ricky Ponting, as the former India leader, Ganguly, who is the current director of cricket at DC, has wished to become the next head coach of the franchise.
‘I am planning for the next IPL. I want DC to win this time. I will speak to the management about appointing an Indian as the head coach.’ Sourav Ganguly added.
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He also stretched on looking to bring new players- someone like the new England wicket-keeper Jamie Smith, who made his Test debut last week against West Indies.
‘I want to give a shot as the head coach. I will bring in some new players. Wanted to bring in Jamie Smith from England.’ Sourav Ganguly concluded. ‘I wanted to test him out in Delhi’s SA20 franchise. He wanted to come in but the schedules did not match.’
It will be interesting to see what decisions the Delhi Capitals (DC) management take regarding the new head coach, after this statement from the former India captain.