Sourav Ganguly was the one who first to bring oneness in Indian Cricket, former international spinner Dilip Doshi said on Thursday. While talking about this, Doshi, who made his debut aged 32 and took 114 wickets from 33 Tests, added that former captain Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi also did his best in bridging the gap but it was Ganguly who left the impact.

“I must tell during our days you could have played for India only if you are a North Indian from North India or Maharashtrian from Mumbai or from South,” Doshi said. “One can never think of a cricketer playing in Indian team from Eastern states like Bihar. The first Indian to bring oneness and Indianness in Indian cricket is Sourav. Tiger (Pataudi) was also there but Sourav stood out.”

Batting legend Ganguly, last month became the BCCI president.

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“Now-a-days very few spinners are making the effort to spin the ball. There are plenty of slow bowlers but not orthodox spinners. The extraordinary advent of T20 format has created a fear among spinners. Spinners fear to flight the ball but a real spinner is who has the courage to give flight. To add to it smaller grounds and bigger and heavier bats are also reasons behind spinners decline,” he added.

“Some regulations have to be introduced whether it is increasing the size of the boundaries or decreasing the size of bats. It is unfair for spinners. The administrators really need to look into these issues,” Doshi concluded.