New Delhi: Ex-BCCI president and India skipper Sourav Ganguly has called out all his critics who weren’t so kind to him when he appointed Rohit Sharma as the captain of the Indian cricket team during his tenure. Taking a sharp dig at the fans who were critical of Ganguly for taking the step, the legendary southpaw batter has asked them to look at the team’s success in the current scenario under Rohit’s leadership.
Speaking to a Bengali daily Aajkaal, Ganguly recalled the barrage of criticism that was directed towards him when he was the president of the BCCI. It is understood that Ganguly had vouched for Rohit Sharma after Virat Kohli was forced to step down as skipper from all formats of the game after India bowed out from the group stage of the T20 World Cup 2021.
Despite Virat’s failure as Team India skipper, Ganguly faced the wrath of netizens and a few cricket pundits, specifically after Virat Kohli’s explosive press conference, where he categorically claimed that he was unwillingly removed from the post of India’s ODI captain. Ganguly had responded to it saying that it was a mutual agreement to remove Kohli from captaincy.
Looking back at the events that unfolded, Ganguly on Saturday made another set of explosive statements as he asked his critics to take a look at the success of the Indian team under the captaincy of Rohit Sharma. The prince of Kolkata said that India celebrated the T20 World Cup 2024 win under Rohit, but no one could remember that it was him who made Rohit the captain of the Men in Blue.
“When I handed Rohit Sharma the captaincy of the Indian team, everyone criticised me. Now that India has won the T20 World Cup under the captaincy of Rohit Sharma, everyone has stopped abusing me for it. In fact, I think everyone has forgotten that it was I who appointed him as the captain of the Indian team,” Ganguly told the Bengali daily.
Ganguly is currently the director of cricket at the Delhi Capitals (DC) in the Indian Premier League (IPL) and now wants to head coach’s hat after the franchise announced that they were parting ways with Ricky Ponting.
“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. I want to give a shot as the head coach,” Ganguly said. He even gave a brief plan of what he would be up to once he assumes the role if handed.
“I will bring in some new players. Wanted to bring in Jamie Smith from England. I wanted to test him out in Delhi’s SA20 franchise. He wanted to come in but the schedules did not match,” he concluded.
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