Sourav Ganguly congratulates Imran Khan over his election success

Former Indian captain Sourav Ganguly on July 27, congratulated former Pakistani captain Imran Khan for getting closer to the post of his country’s prime minister after the controversial general elections that took place on July 25. Imran, 65, struggled for more than two decades in politics before inching closer to yet another milestone in his eventful life.

His party Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) won 115 out of 272 seats in Pakistan’s National Assembly in the latest elections, becoming the single largest party. Khan even addressed his countrymen in a presidential-style speech in which he emphasised on improving ties with neighbours India.

He fought for long

“Congratulations to him. He has been fighting for a long time and now he is set to become the prime minister of Pakistan,” Ganguly, currently the president of the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB), said at its annual awards ceremony.

Imran Khan, one of the best all-rounders produced by Pakistan and who, in his two-decade-long cricketing career, also became one of his country’s finest captains and the only one to give his country the cricket World Cup in 1992. Ganguly came close to matching Khan’s record in 2003 but lost in the final to a formidable Australia. He, however, has a better captaincy record in Tests in which he has led India to win in 21 Tests as against 14 by Khan.

At the award ceremony, the CAB honoured India’s U19 pacer Ishan Porel with the best U19 cricketer of the year award besides naming Dipti Sharma as the best senior women’s cricketer. Former Bengal pacer Barun Burman was also presented the Kartick Bose Lifetime Achievement Award on the occasion.

Ganguly also on the occasion stressed the need for Bengal to win the Ranji Trophy. Bengal have played 13 Ranji Trophy finals but could win it only twice with the latest title coming way back in 1990. The former captain himself was a member of that side as a teenager.

CAB Joint Secretary Avishek Dalmiya, son of late cricket administrator Jagmohan Dalmiya, said the CAB made a profit of Rs 75 lakh in the last financial year even though there were no TV right subsidies and IPL subventions from the Board of Control for Cricket in India.

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