File photo of Sourav Ganguly and Rohit Sharma© BCCI/Sportzpics
The Indian cricket team has had some phenomenal leaders. Rohit Sharma succeeded Virat Kohli who had taken over the reins from MS Dhoni. Sourav Ganguly, who himself is one of the finest skippers in the game’s history, was asked about grooming a captain who could follow Rohit in the years to come. Dada, highlighting his views, said that he sees the Indian Premier League (IPL) as a good grooming platform for leaders before hinting that Hardik Pandya could be the one to succeed the HItman in the coming years.
In a chat with the Times of India, Ganguly highlighted the importance of IPL in finding potential leaders. Having seen Haridk already leading the Indian team in T20Is and ODIs on occasions, Ganguly is confident of seeing IPL become a ‘breeding ground’ for potential leaders.
“IPL is a good breeding ground. We have seen how well Hardik Pandya has captained in the IPL. That’s one of the reasons he has been captaining India in the shorter formats also. You can’t ignore wins and losses in the IPL because it’s a very tough tournament,” he said.
Ganguly was also asked about IPL becoming a ‘reference point’ for selectors before big events (T20 World Cup or ODI World Cup). He said that the selectors, coach, and captain are mature enough to see overall performances and not focus on IPL too much.
“I think selectors balance performances. They don’t go blindly by IPL. Maybe while picking a T20 side, you might look into the IPL performances. I think selectors are mature enough to see overall performance. Then there’s Rohit Sharma as captain and Rahul Dravid as coach. They have a major say in what they want. I think they are very balanced people and will do what’s best for Indian cricket,” the former BCCI chief opined.
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