There isn’t any time to slot in more games, claims Sourav Ganguly
While Sourav Ganguly made it clear that there will be no splitting of captaincy, he also added that more T20Is can't be squeezed in before World Cup. Ganguly has started his tenure as the president of the BCCI with a bang setting up India's maiden day-night Test and planning first-class contracts.
India's limited-overs vice-captain Rohit Sharma has a tremendous record as a captain in the IPL winning a whopping 58.65% of his matches while skipper Virat Kohli has a winning percentage of 47.16%. These stats have sparked a question if BCCI should consider Sharma as T20 captain but Ganguly has clearly denied any split in the leadership of the team.
“I don’t think that is required to be even discussed now,” Hindustan Times quoted Ganguly.
India will be playing 13 T20s, in the build-up to the T20 World Cup Down Under, against Bangladesh, West Indies, Sri Lanka and New Zealand, between now and February 2. But when asked if these will be enough to prepare India to win the trophy which they bagged back in 2007, Ganguly shared that no more T20s can be squeezed in.
“There isn’t any time to slot in more games; the calendar does not permit that,” said Ganguly. “But I think we are playing enough T20 games anyway. Over and above these, you will also have the IPL in 2020.”
Ganguly also went to share his plans for the future of day-night Test matches in India. He informed that the board is planning to play one DN Test match each at home and abroad every year.
“We will try and play one every year in India. That is for sure. When India go on tour, we will talk to the board of the country we are visiting and see if we can feature in one.”
Baring the duration of matches, the lack of competitiveness in Test cricket is also a reason why Test cricket has lost its audience. Ganguly voiced his disappointment about the performance of the Proteas in the recently-concluded series and cited Australia's resurgence as an example of how teams have developed after a prolonged bad stint.
“These things move in a cycle. Yes, I was disappointed with the performance of South Africa on their last tour but I guess they need some time to get things in order and be the team I remember playing against. It is the same with Pakistan and Sri Lanka. Some time ago, Australia were not doing all that well but they have now turned things around,” the former skipper signed off.
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