Sourav Ganguly finds Aamer Sohail’s criticism stupid and ridiculous

Pakistan have done their nation proud by playing tough cricket to reach the finals of the ICC Champions Trophy for the first time ever. Everybody had written them off after their thumping loss to India in their first group game Sarfaraz Ahmed led from the front to inspire his team to memorable wins against South Africa, England and Sri Lanka.

The common facet of all these wins has been terrific bowling in the middle overs by their talented fast bowlers. Despite their outstanding show in the Mini World Cup, former Pakistan captain Aamer Sohail lashed out at Sarfaraz to not be too proud of his achievement because they know that they have been brought to the finals by someone else outside of the team. We all know what Sohail was referring to but such allegations can demoralise the confidence of a team.

Talking to India Today, former India captain Sourav Ganguly termed the allegations of Sohail as stupid and uncalled for. “Yea you must be stupid, ridiculous,” said Ganguly. “Somebody who played for the country and captained should be appreciating the way they [Pakistan team] come to the final.”

Pakistan punched above their weight and is just one game away from lifting the trophy. The result of the final doesn’t matter as Pakistan has put in hard yards to reach this far and must be complimented for their efforts. Ganguly said that there is no support yet they have reached so far after knocking out two favourites of the tournament, South Africa and England.

“What system these boys are getting back home? Nothing. There is no support and no structure,” he said. “They don’t have any international cricket back home, and yet they’ve beaten South Africa, Sri Lanka and England to get to the Champions Trophy final. I find it absolutely ridiculous. It shows poor culture and poor taste, and he should not be doing all this.”

India off-spinner Harbhajan Singh also spoke on the same lines of his former captain. The 36-year old went to the extent of saying that former players are “jealous” of the success Pakistan are getting now.

“If you don’t respect your own team, you will lose respect,” said Harbhajan. “I am sure these guys are jealous because they thought Pakistan will not reach this far.”

Harbhajan went on to laud Pakistan for showing great resilience and a stomach for a fight. “They’ve worked really hard to reach this far and I feel so bad when ex-players and captains talk bad about players even after they achieve something great,” he said.

There will be no love lost between India and Pakistan when both teams will collide against each other on Sunday. Ganguly has already mentioned that Pakistan will find it tough to match India on the day. The Oval will be full of Asian people come Sunday.