Prior to the 2021 T20 World Cup final, former India captain as well as the President of BCCI, Sourav Ganguly has backed New Zealand to emerge as the winner. However, they will play against Australia in the summit clash on Sunday in Dubai. Notably, both teams are yet to win a T20 World Cup.
However, Sourav Ganguly has said that it might be New Zealand’s time to shine more in International cricket as New Zealand has been playing well for the last few years across formats. They have already won the World Test Championship (WTC) thrashing India in the final earlier this year as well.
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“I feel it is New Zealand’s time in world sport. Australia are a great nation, but they have had a tough time for a while, though they have been a great cricketing country. New Zealand has a lot more guts and character than we see on TV. They won the World Test Championship a few months ago. It’s a small country but it’s got a lot of steel. I have the feeling that it is indeed New Zealand’s time,” said Sourav Ganguly while speaking at the 40th Sharjah International Book Fair on Saturday.
On the other hand, the veteran was also confident that the Indian team will soon bounce back and win many trophies too. However, Team India failed to reach the semi-final after losing to Pakistan and New Zealand in their first two games. Although they won their last three games, it wasn’t enough to make it to the cut as well. They will next face New Zealand in a three-match T20I series and two-match Test series as well, starting later this month.
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“Expectations were undoubtedly very high, but I was happy to see that a majority of the people had the heart to accept the result. They were upset, but they did not overreact. At the end of the day – Bumrah, Shami, Rohit, and Kohli are all human beings. It was just a matter of two bad games. That’s 40 overs of bad cricket. They will bounce back, and within a year or so, we will see the same boys lifting trophies,” Sourav Ganguly concluded.
