Ganguly recommended that the team management focus on one player and give him a long rope at the No. 4 position.
“India has enormous talent. I keep hearing about this…we don’t have this or that but we have too much and that is the problem that we cannot decide.
04:09
Big talking points from India’s Asia Cup 2023 squad announcement
“The No.4…Rahul (Dravid), selectors and Rohit (Sharma) need to decide that ‘this is my No. 4 and I will continue with him’. One batting slot does not make much of a difference,” Ganguly told the media in Mumbai while being appointed as the brand ambassador of the real estate company Casagrand.
Ganguly played down the contention over who should play at No. 4 and claimed that any player might fit there.
“Number four is just a number and anybody can fit in. I started in the middle-order in one-day cricket and went on to open because I was asked to by
Sachin (Tendulkar) as captain. It is the same with Sachin.
He batted at six and his captain asked him to open and he became a world-class player. Anybody can play at No 4. There’s Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer and KL Rahul,” said Ganguly.
Promising left-hander Tilak Varma, who recently played in a T20I series against the West Indies, was on Monday named to India’s roster for the Asia Cup 2023.
He will be making his ODI debut for India and Ganguly thought that the young batsman would capitalize on the chance by scoring significant runs.
“He is good but I think when you play big tournaments, you need a bit more runs under the belt,” he said.
In upcoming competitions, wrist spinners would be essential for India, according to Ganguly.
“We have a very good bowling attack… (Jasprit) Bumrah, (Mohammed) Siraj, (Mohammed) Shami, (Ravindra) Jadeja will play the all-rounder’s role and then you have the wrist spinners.
“I will always pick (Yuzvendra) Chahal, I will always pick wrist spinners. I do not know what the selectors think but I will always pick wrist spinners,” he said.
Chahal was not selected for India’s Asia Cup team, but left-arm wrist spinner Kuldeep Yadav was given a spot in the team that would be traveling to Sri Lanka.
Ganguly predicted that India would succeed in the Asia Cup and the ensuing World Cup.
“It’s a solid team, I keep saying that, (but) I keep hearing “yaar solid solid bolte ho, World Cup jeet ta hi nahi hai, aise thodi World Cup har samay jeetega yaar. (you say it is a solid team but does not win the World Cup. You cannot win the World Cup every time),” he said.
India will play in the World Cup semifinals, according to Ganguly, who asked everyone to give the team some time to find its rhythm.
“I am sure they will at least get to the semifinals (of WC). They entered the Test championship final, which itself is an achievement. Once they get there, they’ll cross the bridge.
So, I have a lot of time for this team, a lot of faith in this team and hopefully from the Asia Cup we will see a side which will go all the way (against) Australia and then the World Cup,” he added.
(With PTI inputs)