Former BCCI president Sourav Ganguly has attributed India's unbeaten streak in the ongoing T20 World Cup to Rohit Sharma's inspiring leadership.
Ganguly also urged the Men in Blue to play with freedom in the final to end their long-standing ICC trophy drought.
India will take on South Africa in the title clash at the Kensington Oval in Bridgetown, Barbados on Saturday (June 29).
"I'm very happy for Rohit Sharma. Life comes full circle. Six months ago he was not even the captain of Mumbai Indians and the same man is now leading India to a World Cup final, unbeaten," Ganguly said after being roped in as the brand ambassador of Veedol.
Ganguly revealed that Rohit was hesitant to take up the captaincy role after Virat Kohli relinquished the post after the T20 World Cup 2021.
"He has played two World Cup finals where he has gone into the final unbeaten. That speaks of his captaincy and leadership quality and I'm not surprised because he became captain when I was the BCCI president and when Virat didn't want to captain India anymore.
"It took a lot of time to make him captain because he was not ready to captain. It took a lot of pushing from all of us to make him captain and I'm very happy to see the progress of Indian cricket under him."
Ganguly also claimed that winning IPL titles could sometimes be more challenging because of the duration of the tournament.
"Rohit has the record of winning five IPL titles, which is a huge achievement. Winning an IPL sometimes is more difficult. Don't misquote me, I'm not saying IPL is better than international cricket.
"But you have to win 16-17 (12-13) matches to win an IPL; here you need to win 8-9 matches to win a World Cup. The honour is more in winning 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 Barbados ocean if he loses two finals under his captaincy in seven months. He has led from the front, batted brilliantly, and I hope it continues tomorrow. Hope India finishes on the right side, and they should play with freedom.
"They have been the best side of the competition. I wish them luck, I wish they win. Hope they have a little bit of luck tomorrow because that is required to win big tournaments," Ganguly remarked.
After the Champions Trophy triumph in 2013, India have lost as many as five ICC event finals with two of them coming under Rohit’s captaincy last year.
"I look at it differently. At least we are getting to the finals, we can only win once we get to the final," he said.
"The positive thing is India is not getting eliminated. Secondly, they are dominating. You saw the World Cup in India seven months ago; they were the best side in the competition, although they lost to Australia in the final.
"They were a better side than Australia right through the tournament; they just had one bad day," he pointed out.
Star batter Virat Kohli is struggling for runs in this T20 World Cup at the top of the order, but Ganguly doesn’t want him to drop down to No. 3.
"Virat should continue to open. He just had a World Cup of 700 runs seven months ago. He is human. Sometimes, he will also fail, and you have to accept it.
"People like Kohli, (Sachin) Tendulkar, (Rahul) Dravid, they are institutions for Indian cricket. Three-four matches don't make them weaker players. Don't rule him out in the final tomorrow," he opined.
Ganguly also dismissed former England skipper Michael Vaughan’s allegation that ICC favoured India with a spin-friendly venue in the T20 World Cup semifinal in Guyana.
Vaughan also accused broadcasters of giving India a favorable time slot of 8pm IST in all their matches.
"Michael Vaughan is a very dear friend of mine. I don't know how ICC helps India win cricket matches by keeping the broadcast at 8 pm IST in the evening. I don't know how broadcasting wins you cricket matches. You still have to play in the middle and win," Ganguly said.
"Secondly, I don't know why Guyana is thought to be a venue for winning when they have gone around and won everywhere."
Ganguly emphasized that India's consistent on-field performance makes them a dominant force.
"Yes, India are a dominant force in world cricket, by its performance, by its broadcast, and by the money it brings to the table.
"You know if you own 80 percent of a company's shares, you will get more dividends and profits than others. It's the rule of life. India are the same," he said.
(With PTI Inputs)
