India may have lost the inaugural edition of the ICC World Test Championship to New Zealand, but they have shown their sheer dominance in that format by winning against Australia Down Under and England at home earlier this year. And, former captain and current BCCI president Sourav Ganguly ha shared his happiness for their hard work and effort as they make it to the final as well.

“Everyone has contributed in this WTC journey. Ajinkya Rahane has been the highest scorer for India in the WTC. Don’t forget Mohammed Shami and Ishant Sharma. For Ishant, a fast bowler, to have played 100 Tests, is not a mean achievement. After Kapil Dev, he is the only Indian pace bowler to have done so. There have been worthy contributions from Rohit Sharma, Rahane and skipper Virat Kohli. Ravichandran Ashwin has performed with the ball right through,” Sourav Ganguly said to The Week Magazine in an interview.

However, not only India’s batting unit but their bowling unit also failed to step up in the big event. And, this is another ICC event where India failed to win the title after their exit from the 2019 ICC ODI World Cup semi-final as well.

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“Both India and New Zealand have played well, and that is why they are in the final. As for the qualification criteria, it was based on the percentage of wins. Hopefully, in the next WTC cycle, there will be some tweaks. Last year, due to Covid-19, lots of matches and series were cancelled. Hopefully, the next cycle will take all this into account,” Sourav Ganguly added.

However, he recently backed Test cricket as the ultimate format of cricket as well. And, his views came after the conclusion of the WTC Final. Meanwhile, Team India will now shift their focus to the upcoming five-match Test series against England which will begin in August.

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“When we started playing cricket in our childhood, Test cricket was the ultimate cricket format and I think it still is the ultimate format. And that is why it is called Test cricket. I feel if a player wants to be successful and leave his/ her mark on the game, then Test cricket is the biggest platform one can get. People will remember those players forever, who play well and make runs in Test matches. If you see all the biggest names in cricket all the greats in the past 40-50 years; they’ve all had successful Test records,” Sourav Ganguly told Star Sports.