Former cricketer Sourav Ganguly has warned India of the threat posed by arch-rivals Pakistan ahead of the much-anticipated clash between the two sides in the upcoming T20 World Cup 2024 on June 9 in New York.
Ganguly highlighted India’s impressive historical record against Pakistan while acknowledging the potential threat posed by Pakistan in the T20 format.
“Our record against Pakistan has been very, very good for a long time. In the T20 format, Pakistan are probably more dangerous compared to the 50 over (format). We beat them in Ahmedabad when they came to India and beat them easily” , he said while speaking at an event in Mumbai.
“India is superior and if they play well, if they play freely and I keep saying the word ‘freely’ all the time because (in) the last World Cup in Australia, I don’t think we played freely.
“Just put all the cobwebs behind. Don’t worry about winning or losing. Don’t think about winning the World Cup. Just go and play every game,” he added.
He expressed his belief in India’s strong prospects for the T20 World Cup, which will be co-hosted by the USA and the West Indies, starting on Saturday.
According to Ganguly, India’s chances are boosted by their sheer talent and the need to adopt a fearless approach to the game.
“India has a very good chance in the World Cup. India will have to play like a T20 team. There is huge talent,” he said.
“Play without fear and keep batting. There is huge talent, (this is) a team which has (Virat) Kohli, Rohit (Sharma), Surya (Suryakumar Yadav), (Rishabh) Pant, (Shivam) Dubey, (Hardik ) Pandya, (Ravindra) Jadeja, Axar (Patel), (Jasprit) Bumrah, Sanju (Samson),” he said when asked about India’s chances.
“That’s why I say everyone is capable of winning it for India and the only way they will do it is (if) they just play with freedom.
“Play with that extra bat and hit from the first ball, hit until you defend (and) play like the last ball,” he added.
Meanwhile, he also floated the idea of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma as the opening pair.
“It’s Virat and Rohit, they both need to open. Virat has been in tremendous touch in the IPL, he’s a great player,” he said.
Along with Pakistan, Ireland, Canada and the USA, India are in Group A of the T20 World Cup 2024.
Club
Rohit Sharma (c), Hardik Pandya (vc), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant (wk), Sanju Samson (wk), Shivam Dube, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Arshdeep Shingh , Jasprit Bumrah, Mohd. Siraj.
Reserves: Shubman Gill, Rinku Singh, Khaleel Ahmed and Avesh Khan.
Program
- India vs Ireland – June 5 (New York)
- India vs Pakistan – June 9 (New York)
- India vs USA – June 12 (New York)
- India v Canada – June 15 (Lauderhill)
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