'I hope he's listening. I want him to play Test cricket': Ganguly's appeal to Team India star after WTC Final loss

Sourav Ganguly said that the Indian team need to play fearlessly whenever they reach the final of a big tournament.

India may have not won an International Cricket Council (ICC) title in 10 years but former captain Sourav Ganguly has cautioned against jumping to conclusions, particularly with the team's future in Test cricket, based on their loss to Australia in the 2023 World Test Championship (WTC) final. While India staged a fightback in the third and fourth days at the Oval after being behind for much of the first two, they folded within the first session of the last day, thus losing the match by 209 runs.

Ganguly said that India will always have played ready to take the team forward in Test cricket (AFP)

Ganguly said that regardles of what happened in the match, India will always have a healthy pipeline of players ready to take the team forward in Test cricket. “Let's not jump to conclusions due to just one loss, India will always have talent. And I don't think it is time to look beyond Virat (Kohli) or (Cheteshwar) Pujara. Virat is just 34,” said Ganguly on India Today.

“India has enormous reserves. When you look at some of the performances. I don't consider IPL performances if we are sticking to Test cricket. In domestic cricket there are some fantastic players and you will only find out when you give them opportunities. Whether it be Jaiswal or Patidar, Abhimanyu Easwaran from Bengal scores a lot of runs. Shubman Gill is young, Ruturaj Gaikwad and I hope Hardik Pandya is listening. I want to see him play Test cricket, especially in these conditions,” said Ganguly.

While he went through a period of uncertainty after sustaining a back injury in the 2018 Asia Cup, Pandya has seemingly got back to his best as an all-rounder in limited overs cricket since early 2022. He has also grown in stature as a captain in this period, leading Gujarat Titans to the title in the 2022 IPL and the final of the 2023 tournament and leading the Indian T20I and ODI teams on a number of occasions over the past year. However, he is yet to return to Test cricket since that injury, with his last Test match coming in September 2018.

In 11 Tests, Pandya scored 532 runs 31.29 with four half centuries and one century. He also took 17 wickets including a five-wicket haul. Pandya said before the WTC final that he would like to earn a spot in the Test, having not played any first class cricket since December 2018. “If I want to play Test cricket, I will go through the grind, I will earn my position and then come back. For that reason, to be very honest, I will not be available or play the World Test Championship Final, or any future Test matches until I feel that I have earned my spot.”