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SPORTS JUNE 06, 2024 | The Indian Eye 50

T20 WORLD CUP

Sourav Ganguly wants Men in Blue

to play freely and in-form Virat Kohli

to open the batting

In the tournament, India will be aiming to end their ICC trophy drought, having

last won the ICC Champions Trophy in 2013

OUR BUREAU
New York
ormer India captain Sourav
Ganguly on Saturday advised
FTeam India for their upcoming
ICC T20 World Cup campaign and
said the Men in Blue players should
play freely from the start of their in-
nings in the ICC event. The Men in
Blue will play against Bangladesh in
their only warm-up game on June 1 at
Nassau County International Cricket
Stadium in New York.
Kohli coming into the T20 WC
with a sensational 2024 IPL sea-
son while opening the batting for
the Royal Challengers Bengaluru
(RCB). In the recently concluded
Indian Premier League, the 35-year-
old who featured for the Royal Chal-
lengers Bengaluru won the Orange
Cap for scoring most runs in the 17th
edition of the cash-rich league. Kohli coming into the T20 WC with a sensational 2024 IPL season while opening the batting for the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (ANI)
He scored 741 runs in 15 match-
es at an average of 61.75, with a cen- “He is a very special talent. His perform well in the extravagant ICC be played in the West Indies and the
tury and five fifties. His best score keeping is good, but his batting re- tournament. USA from June 1 to 29. In the tour-
was 113* and his strike rate stood at ally special. He is capable of picking “We hope that India will play nament, India will be aiming to end
154.69, the highest it has ever been some great angles in the ground, and well. All the players are good. There their ICC trophy drought, having last
for Kohli in a single IPL season. that’s his USP. Not every player will are so many players in our country won the ICC Champions Trophy in
Rishabh Pant made a roaring be able to do that, you see. And that’s that it becomes difficult to select the 2013. Since then, India has reached
comeback to professional cricket what makes Pant very important for playing XI. We are spoiled for choic- the 50-over World Cup final in 2023,
after a major car accident in Decem- India. He has worked very very hard es. They have a fantastic side,” Gan- semifinal in 2015 and 2019, the title
ber 2022 and the swashbuckling left- to make this comeback and is hun- guly told ANI at an event. clash of the ICC World Test Champi-
hander made 446 runs at an average gry to do well. I am confident he will The former captain stated that it onship in 2021 and 2023, T20 WC final
of 40.54 and a strike-rate of 155.40 in make a telling difference,” he added. is hard to predict the top five teams in 2014, semifinals in 2016 and 2022
IPL. Pant also claimed a joint-high 16 India will be aiming to win their because it’s a T20 format and any but failed to secure a big ICC trophy.
dismissals with the gloves during the first T20 WC title since they won the side can reach. INDIA T20 WC SQUAD:
most recent India Premier League inaugural edition of the tournament Talking about if he wants to give
(IPL) season. back in 2007 in South Africa. In the advice to the Indian side, Ganguly Rohit Sharma (c), Hardik Pandya,
The former captain also hailed last edition held in Australia in 2022, said, “This is Rahul Dravid’s job be- Yashasvi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli,
the wicketkeeper-batter Rishabh India lost to England by 10 wickets in cause he is the coach. We will just Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant,
Pant’s ability to smash shots all over the semifinals. watch and cheer for India. I would Sanju Samson, Shivam Dube, Ravindra
the ground and also expressed con- Ganguly said India have a “fan- just like to say that we have to play Jadeja, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav,
fidence in the 26-year-old player to tastic” side in the T20 World Cup freely in the T20 format.” Yuzvendra Chahal, Arshdeep Singh,
perform well in T20 WC. and he hopes that Men in Blue will The ICC T20 World Cup will Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj

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