Former India captain Sourav Ganguly on Tuesday joked about why the team under his charge struggled with mental battles against tough opponents such as Australia. Speaking during the rain interruption in India’s World Cup 2019 semifinal clash against New Zealand on Star Sports’ Cricket Live Show, the 47-year-old joked that there were “too many gentlemen” in his team.
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“It was very hard with that team, because we had too many gentlemen. If you ask Rahul Dravid to do that, he’ll come back and say ‘No no no that’s not the right way to play.’ You ask VVS Laxman to do that, he’ll say ‘I’m concentrating on my batting.’ And if you tell Sachin to do it, he will stand at mid-on and tell the mid-wicket fielder to sledge Steve Waugh, and himself not do it,” Ganguly revealed with Laxman laughing alongside him.
READ | Rain interruptions expected on reserve day
The former batsman further joked that only Harbhajan Singh was the one who followed his instructions. “There were a lot of issues in that team. The only ones holding the Indian flag were Harbhajan Singh and Sourav Ganguly. Sardarji did everything I told him to do,” he said.
New Zealand found it tough to score runs after opting to bat on what seemed to be a slow and two-paced surface here on Tuesday. The Kiwis managed to reach 211 for five in 46.1 overs before rain pushed the match to the reserve day.
{{/usCountry}}New Zealand found it tough to score runs after opting to bat on what seemed to be a slow and two-paced surface here on Tuesday. The Kiwis managed to reach 211 for five in 46.1 overs before rain pushed the match to the reserve day.
{{/usCountry}}READ | All you need to know about the reserve day
Unrelenting rain pushed the Old Trafford semi-final between India and New Zealand into its reserve day. As per the rules stipulated by ICC, play will now resume from where it ended and New Zealand will bat out the remaining overs followed by an Indian chase.