ugc_banner

'You don't become champions easily': Sourav Ganguly gives his take on India's prospects of winning T20 WC

WION Web Team
New Delhi, IndiaUpdated: Oct 16, 2021, 07:18 PM IST
main img
File photo of Sourav Ganguly when he was speaking during a press conference at the BCCI headquarters in Mumbai on October 23, 2019. Photograph:(AFP)

Story highlights

Ganguly was asked about what the Indian team should do to win the T20 WC title, to which the former left-handed batter replied that the team just have to be 'mentally in good space'

Sourav Ganguly, former Team India captain and current president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has given his valuable insight over India's expected run in the upcoming T20 World Cup and the chances of winning the coveted trophy. 

As India is all set to open their T20 WC campaign with a blockbuster clash against arch-rivals Pakistan on October 24, Ganguly said the talented Indian cricket team can be considered a contender and it only needs to show a bit of maturity to claim the trophy. 

During a conversation, the 49-year-old Ganguly was asked about what the Indian team should do to win the title, to which the former left-handed batter replied that the team just have to be "mentally in good space" to win the World Cup. 

"You don't become champions easily and you just don't become champions just by stepping into a tournament, so they have to get through the process, they have to show maturity," Ganguly said while speaking after Games24x7, a multi-game platform launched a new campaign — titled 'Game Ke Deewane'.

"...They all have the talent, they all have the skill to score runs and take wickets at this level. They just have to be mentally in good space to win the World Cup," he added. 

"(The) title is only won when the finals are finished. So, you have a lot of cricket to be played before that and I think India should focus (on) every game, India should focus on winning every game and just taking it from there and not think about the title at the start," he said. 

"They (India) will always be contenders in whatever competition they play in and the challenge for them is to be at peace with themselves, focus on the process rather than the results because the most toughest thing and the most wrong thing to do is when you take guard and you think I am here to win the World Cup."

"...What is important is to play the next ball which is coming out of the hand and keep doing that till you get to the finals," he further said. 

The tournament was scheduled to be held in India but the COVID-19 situation in the country forced organisers to shift it to the United Arab Emirates and Oman. 

Ahead of the tournament, India tweaked its squad as Shardul Thakur has been added to the 15-member squad as he replaced Axar Patel, who will now be on the list of standby players. 

India's squad for ICC T20 World Cup: Virat Kohli (captain), Rohit Sharma (vice-captain), KL Rahul, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant (wicket-keeper), Ishan Kishan, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Rahul Chahar, Ravichandran Ashwin, Shardul Thakur, Varun Chakravarthy, Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammad Shami

Stand-by players: Shreyas Iyer, Deepak Chahar, Axar Patel