Former skipper Sourav Ganguly on Saturday (January 11) backed the Indian spinners, particularly Varun Chakaravarthy, to play a key role in the team’s successful T20 World Cup title defence at home.
The Men in Blue have quality spinners in their ranks for the marquee event, slated to be held in India and Sri Lanka from February 7 to March 8.
Apart from Chakravarthy, Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel and Washington Sundar are part of India’s 15-member squad.
"Yeah, nothing (home WC) gets bigger than that, and India is always my favourite team. They have a strong spin attack and if Chakaravarthy is fit then it's good for India,” Ganguly, who coaches Pretoria Capitals in the SA20, said in an interaction with a select media gathering.
The 53-year-old, who has donned the role of a head coach for the first time in his career, is hoping to learn on the job further.
"First time ever in my life, head coach. But I am enjoying it. Actually, I am very close to (Delhi Capitals co-owner) Parth (Jindal), so he asked me to do this, so I did it.
"I am also learning. I may have played any amount of matches, captained any amount of matches, but this is different. I am coaching and I am doing this to learn and understand," said Ganguly, who also works as the Director of Cricket at Delhi Capitals in the IPL.
The Pretoria Capitals defeated Paarl Royals at Boland Park on Saturday by 21 runs to move to third spot on the points table.
It was their second successive victory, and Ganguly was understandably delighted. "When you play any big tournament, whether it's a World Cup, IPL or SA20, the back-end gets very tight and competitive and that's where you need to be at your best. It's a very important point.
"You know these sort of wins when you defend one side, it actually gives you a lot of confidence. Hopefully we will continue to do that. But in sport, every day is a new day. So we'll pick ourselves up and start fresh the day after tomorrow," he remarked.
Ganguly was also pleased to start his coaching career in South Africa, a country where he led India to the World Cup final in 2003.
"This has been a great place for us. I have come so many times here, the World Cup finals, in 2003. We lost, but we were exceptional in the tournament. South Africa is a place for cricket. You can see how good the tournament is.
"The stands are full, even on a weekday, people come and watch. Whether it's Cape Town, whether it's Pretoria, whether it's Paarl because it's a cricketing country, it's been a great tournament,” he said.
(With PTI Inputs)
