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Champions Trophy: Ganguly confident, Ashwin “nervy” ahead of final
Kolkata: Ashwin and Ganguly debate India's chances in England, stressing batting strength and bowlers' form for success in the Champions Trophy final.
Kolkata: Ravichandran Ashwin and Sourav Ganguly had opinions as different bat and ball on what India needed for a successful summer in England. On Sunday’s Champions Trophy final, the stars from the opposite ends of a cricket pitch agreed that India have an advantage, albeit slight.
Ganguly said on the strength of their batting, the mystery and mastery of Varun Chakravarthy, India would start as favourites in Dubai but qualified the comment by saying that New Zealand were the “toughest” team to face in the final. Ashwin said he was “a bit nervy”. New Zealand did ”really well in the semi-final (against South Africa) and are a team that “do not cry about the conditions but make the best use of their resources.”
On England, the former India captain said batting would be key. The captain India never had felt success in summer would hinge on the fast bowlers.
“If I am concerned, it is about the bowlers,” said Ashwin speaking on a virtual link from Chennai at the Trailblazers 3.0 sports conclave here on Saturday. “How many matches will (Jasprit) Bumrah play? Where is the next (Mohammed) Sham? Tests are not won by batters. I think India’s batting is a good place.”
Later, at another session, Ganguly referred to the past to the make a point about the future. “To win Tests, you would need to 400, 500 on the board.” That is how the team he helmed for six years would win away from home, he said.
Ganguly mentioned India’s wins in Adelaide (2003), Headingly (2002), Multan and Rawalpindi (both 2004) to make the point. “India will have to bat well in England,. The worry is most of India’s top batters average in the 40s. You need them in the 50s,” he said.
“I am surprised by Virat’s red ball form. He needs to put his thinking cap on. India need him,” said Ganguly. Shubman Gill will have to take his batting to a higher level as should Yashasvi Jaiswal and Rishabh Pant cannot be allowed to swing all the time, he said. Jaiswal, Ganguly said, was India’s best Test batter.
India have not been good in red ball cricket and Rohit Sharma should take responsibility to turn that around, he said. “He is a fabulous captain but has to find a way to get going. We can have two teams in white ball cricket and still be world beaters. Can we say the same for red ball? No.”
Ashwin dismissed the notion of India getting an advantage by playing their Champions Trophy matches in Dubai. “South Africa played all their matches in the 2009 Champions Trophy at the same venue (SuperSport Park in Centurion),” said Ashwin.
Ganguly flipped the debate, saying India’s batters lost out on the flat tracks in Pakistan. “I think Virat and the others would be sad that they could not bat in Pakistan where teams have scored 360 (New Zealand made 362/6 in the semi-final) and often over 300. Batting in Dubai was way more difficult.”
