Former India captain Sourav Ganguly is confident that if given three months to train, he can again start churning out runs for Team India in Tests. Speaking to Bengali newspaper Sangbad Pratidin, Ganguly said that he would have scored more runs had he not retired in Nagpur.
Ganguly played his final international game against Australia in November 2008. His last ODI appearance came against Pakistan in 2007. Prior to the start of Australia series, the left-handed batsman had announced that he would quit international cricket. In 2012, he had told The Telegraph that he regretted his decision.
“If I was given two more series in ODIs, I would’ve scored more runs. If I hadn’t retired in Nagpur, I would’ve scored runs in the next two Test series too. In fact even now give me six months to train, let me play three Ranji games, I’ll score runs for India in Test cricket. I don’t even need six months, give me three, I will score runs,” Ganguly told Sangbad Pratidin.
“You might not give me an opportunity to play but how will you break the belief inside me?”
“It was kind of unbelievable. I was dropped from the ODI side despite being one of the highest scorers of that calendar year. No matter how good your performance is if the stage is taken away from you then what will you prove? And to whom? The same thing happened with me,” the 48-year-old added.
Once a regular member of the team, Ganguly was first sacked from captaincy and was then often dropped from the national team. He was a member of the 2007 World Cup team, which crashed out of the tournament from the league stage.
Ganguly did retire from international cricket in 2008 but continued to play IPL and domestic cricket. His career seemed to be over after he failed to bag a bid in IPL 2011 auction but played two more seasons with Pune Warriors. He captained the Pune-based franchise in his second season.
Besides having donned the cap of a coach/advisor for Delhi Capitals in the 2019 season of the IPL, Dada went on to achieve further laurels, visible in his current capacity as the head of India’s apex cricket organisation, BCCI.
Being regarded as the Captain who changed the face of Indian cricket forever, much is expected from Sourav Ganguly in his role as the president of the BCCI. With great aspirations and targets in sight, Dada is sure to lead India to a new pinnacle of success in the cricketing world.
