Archive photo of the Indian cricket team.© AFP
The Indian cricket team will play a second World Cup final in eight months when they take on South Africa in Barbados in the summit clash of the ongoing mega T20 event on Saturday. India lost to Australia in the final of the 2023 Cricket World Cup on November 19 despite coming into the summit clash unbeaten. Now, the team will get another chance to end their long wait for ICC title drought when they take on the Proteas in the final of the 2024 T20 World Cup.
Former India captain Sourav Ganguly hilariously said that Rohit might jump into the ocean off Barbados if India loses the upcoming final too.
“He has played two World Cup finals and has reached the final unbeaten. That speaks of his captaincy and leadership ability and I am not surprised because he became captain when I was the BCCI president and when Virat no longer wanted to be the captain of India,” Ganguly was quoted as saying by PTI.
“It took us a long time to make him captain because he was not ready to be one. We put in a lot of effort from everyone to make him captain and I am very happy to see the progress of Indian cricket under his leadership.” Ganguly said winning IPL titles can sometimes be more difficult because of the length of the tournament.
“Rohit has the record of winning five IPL titles, which is a great achievement. Winning an IPL is sometimes more difficult. Don’t misquote me, I am not saying that IPL is better than international cricket.
“But you have to win 16-17 (12-13) matches to win an IPL; here you have to win 8-9 matches to win a World Cup. The honor is more to win the World Cup, and I hope Rohit does it “. tomorrow.”
“I don’t think he can lose two World Cup finals in seven (six) months. He will probably jump into the ocean of Barbados if he loses two finals under his captaincy in seven months. He has led from the front, batted brilliantly, and I hope he continues tomorrow. I expect India to finish on the right side and they should play freely.
“They were the best team in the competition. I wish them luck, I hope they win. I hope they have a bit of luck tomorrow because that is what you need to win big tournaments,” added Ganguly.
(With PTI inputs)
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