'He was the best choice' - Sourav Ganguly reckons Rohit Sharma will bring better results for India in future

After BCCI announced the appointment of Rohit Sharma as India’s full-time white-ball captain, the cricketing fraternity chimed in with mixed reactions. What had further intrigued the fans and followers was the suddenness of the announcement. However, BCCI President Sourav Ganguly has backed the decision and said that Sharma was the best choice for the role.

Sharma took over the full-time T20I leadership role in the home series against New Zealand. He began his stint on a positive note as the hosts completely outplayed the visitors in all the departments to win the series 3-0. Ganguly who has recently been placed under scrutiny after Virat Kohli refused his claims that he was asked to not step down as T20I captain said that Sharma deserves the position.

“He deserves that position because of what he has done as captain. Five titles with Mumbai, another one with Deccan Chargers speaks volume of his ability under pressure. Once Virat decided he doesn’t want to be part of T20 leadership, he was the best choice. He started well, beating NZ 3-0 in India. Hopefully, we will see a better result for India next year than what we saw this year,” Ganguly said on ‘Backstage with Boria’.

I felt we didn’t play with enough freedom: Sourav Ganguly

One of the major reasons behind Kohli’s replacement is the fact that India did not taste an ICC trophy glory under him. Ganguly said that India played well in the 2017  Champions Trophy and 2019 World Cup but the team’s performance in the recently concluded T20 World Cup 2021 was dismaying. He further pointed that the team did not play to their absolute potential in the mega event.

“To be honest, in the 2017 Champions Trophy and 2019 World Cup, India was good. We were exceptional in the 2019 World Cup, one bad day, and our entire hard work of two months was wiped away. I was disappointed with the way we played this World Cup (T20 WC 2021). It was the poorest we played in the past 4-5 years.

I don’t know what happened, I felt we didn’t play with enough freedom. Sometimes, you just get stuck. The way we played against Pakistan and New Zealand, I felt we played with only 15 percent of the ability. Hopefully, we learn from it,” Ganguly added.