India will kick-start their ICC T20 world cup campaign on October 24 when they will play their first match against arch-rivals Pakistan.
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The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) President and former Indian skipper Sourav Ganguly said on Saturday that the Indian cricket team, led by Virat Kohli, has all the talent to be considered a legitimate contender for the T20 World Cup and only needs to show a bit of maturity to win the trophy. On October 24, India will kick off their T20 World Cup campaign against arch-rivals Pakistan. Ganguly opined that the team should focus on winning every game instead of looking to win the trophy right from the get-go.
“India should focus on winning every game and just taking it from there and not think about the title at the start,” the BCCI president said.
“So, 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. 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,” the former Indian skipper added.
Ganguly indeed has a lot of experience when it comes to leading the national side in the biggest competitions in the world. He was the captain of the Indian team that reached the final of the 2003 ICC cricket world cup where the side lost to a star-studded Australian cricket team. The former cricketer said that India should take one game at a time in the upcoming T20 world cup.
“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 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,” the left-handed batter added.
Ganguly was asked whether he expected the T20 world cup to be a low-scoring tournament, considering the recent trend in the Indian Premier League (IPL) that was played in the same venues. “No, no, I don’t think so,” he responded.
“Maybe in Sharjah it will be because of the wickets, but Dubai is an absolute belter, the (IPL) final played yesterday was an absolute belter. Abu Dhabi will be a great surface to bat on and it is going to be a great World Cup,” added the 49-year-old.
