Sourav Ganguly also backed India’s aggressive batting approach in the T20 World Cup, despite their batting collapse against the USA. Former India captain Sourav Ganguly, on Sunday, lashed out at the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) for threatening to forfeit their T20 World Cup Group A clash against India, saying he couldn’t wrap his head around the logic behind the move.
Following a directive from the Government of Pakistan, the PCB decided to boycott the match in solidarity with Bangladesh, who were removed from the tournament after the ICC declined their request to move group-stage matches out of India citing security concerns. Bangladesh were subsequently replaced by Scotland.
After days of international discussions, during which PCB chairman Mohsin Naqvi even met Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, the government barred Pakistan’s players from taking the field against India in the scheduled February 15 match in Colombo. “Backing out of a World Cup for what? They are playing in Sri Lanka anyway. I am surprised Pakistan are backing out. In a World Cup, every point is important,” Ganguly said on the sidelines of the BPCL auction.
Meanwhile, the ICC and PCB have begun negotiations after the latter wrote to the governing body requesting the invocation of the ‘Force Majeure’ clause to boycott the game. ICC deputy chair Imran Khwaja reached Lahore on Sunday for talks with Naqvi, which will also be attended by Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) president Aminul Islam.
Ganguly also backed India’s aggressive batting approach in the T20 World Cup, despite their collapse in the tournament opener against the USA on Saturday in Mumbai. “That’s what T20 cricket is — you have to keep hitting,” he said. “They are very good players and have been doing this for a long time. There will be games where things don’t come off because they are human beings.”
“This is a very powerful team — strong in batting, bowling, spin and fielding. As the World Cup progresses, they will only get better. Once you get into the tournament, the rhythm comes back. I consider India favourites, and they will be very hard to beat.”
