Former skipper Sourav Ganguly on Friday (August 23) said he is hoping the reappointment of head coach Ravi Shastri will help Team India break its longstanding "big games" jinx and clinch an ICC trophy or two in the next cycle of events.
Shastri was just recently retained at the helm of India's backroom staff for another two years beyond the ongoing tour of West Indies.
"Ravi has been around for a while, five years he’s completed so he’s got an extension for two more years. Hopefully, now India can go all the way in the two upcoming tournaments that are coming up, which is the T20 World Cup and the Champions Trophy (another T20 World Cup in 2021) which has now become a T20 format," PTI quoted Ganguly as saying.
"So I hope they do well, they’re doing well, they get to the semi-finals. In 2015 in Australia they struggled, in 2017 (2016) in Mumbai, West Indies got the better of them and even in this World Cup. So, hopefully, they will get to the next step and create a winning combination."
India hasn't won an ICC event since winning the 2013 Champions Trophy in UK, failing repeatedly to cross the final hurdle despite dominating the proceedings up until then, like at the 50-over World Cup recently.
"Hopefully they can get past the big games and win trophies in the next two years," said Ganguly before urging captain Virat Kohli to not chop and change much, and give players a long run to prove their worth.
"This is one area where Virat (Kohli) needs to just be a bit more consistent — pick players and give them a bit more opportunities consistently — for them to get that confidence, rhythm."
"I have said that before. You saw how Shreyas Iyer played in that ODI series (against West Indies), you pick him and you give him the freedom to play those matches and I think that needs to happen with a lot of players and I am sure Virat will do that," he added.
Ganguly then talked about the two-match Test series in the Caribbean and expressed disagreement with the management over picking Ravindra Jadeja as the sole spinner for Antigua Test ahead of Ravichandran Ashwin and Kuldeep Yadav.
"Yes, I was also surprised to see Kuldeep Yadav left out because the last Test he played against Australia, he got five wickets, if you remember in Sydney on a good flat pitch, he picked up five wickets against Australia."
"But (Ravindra) Jadeja also has been in good form, the surface yesterday at Antigua needed three fast bowlers because we saw the seam movement the fast bowlers got and it was a question of the spin."
"Ashwin’s record is phenomenal to leave him out in the West Indies, so it’s a decision which Kohli has made and we will find out in next couple of days whether how far Jadeja goes on to pick wickets on this surface," he concluded.
(Inputs from PTI)
