Amidst the talk to dismiss the international status of T20 cricket, former Indian captain Sourav Ganguly came in support of the T20I format. He said that cricket could not survive without this format.

Reporters in Coimbatore asked Ganguly whether the players need rest among such busy schedule, where he replied “Twenty20 is must for cricket. Without T-20, cricket cannot survive.”

Also Read: Ganguly ranked Kohli as the best ODI batsman

Commenting on the performance of the Indian Cricket Team in South Africa, he stated that this was a memorable tour for the team and played exceptional cricket in the One Day International series. “It has been a good tour for them so far. They played very well in the one-day series. I hope they win the match (T20) on Saturday,” Ganguly said.

To another question on selection policy then and now, he said it was the same transparent one. “It is the best of Indian selection policy.”

Talking about the opportunity to the youngsters in the Indian cricket, he mentioned that there have been several young players to represent the country. “We have Manish Pandey, Hardik Pandya and others have come in to play in our Indian side. We have to give them time to become the likes of Virender Sehwag and Harbhajan Singh,” he added.

“Sehwag and Harbhajan also developed over a period of time. Our young players will also do so.”

Commenting on former Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni, he stated “Dhoni is very good in one-day matches and in T-20. It is very hard to get past MS. You got to respect the contributions made by him and others too will get an opportunity to shine.”

He praised the fitness bar of current Indian team apart from mentioning the women cricket. Asked to compare Indian men and women cricket teams, he said “Men are far better. Women are doing exceptionally well in cricket. Have you seen anyone hit bigger sixes than Harmanpreet Kaur? However, the men are better.”

Also Read: Sourav Ganguly praised MSD for his performance in 2nd T20I

Ganguly was in Coimbatore to flag-off a walkathon as part of the All India Ophthalmology Conference as the brand ambassador of Essilor latest eyecare equipment and also to release posters of Pitchfest, organised by TiE providing platform for innovators and investors.