Asia Cup 2023: Kind Of Players And Coaches They Have Had, India Should've Won 50% Of Knockouts - Sourav Ganguly

Former Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) chairman Sourav Ganguly made a bold mark, saying that India should’ve won 50 percent of the knockouts with the kind of players and coaches they have had. He also wished Rahul Dravid-coached Team India luck for the Asia Cup and ICC World Cup 2023.

India have been dominating force in world cricket with the likes of Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Jasprit Bumrah, and many other players in the fray. But when it comes to ICC tournaments, they have been lacking somewhere as since 2013 they haven’t won any big tournaments and have faced 9 consecutive losses in ICC tournaments.

The upcoming ICC World Cup 2023 will be a grand opportunity for them to end their title drought. The reason behind this has been the tournament will be played in India and there are no better team than them in these conditions. Also with the kind of players they have this time around, they are the red-hot favorites to win the tournament.

Sourav Ganguly pointed out India’s failure in knockouts of ICC events, saying that he doesn’t want to judge Rahul Dravid as a coach but instead wished him luck for the ICC World Cup 2023. He urged the head coach to pass the message to the team of “World Cups are won based on day’s performance”. Speaking at Casagrande’s launch event in Mumbai, he explained (as quoted by HT):

“At least, they are making the finals. With Dravid as a coach and players such as Rohit, Kohli, even they know that when they get to these positions (knockouts) they should win. Not all the time, but at least 50 percent of the time. I don’t want to judge. We will see what happens after the World Cup. I wish him the best for the World Cup.

“He has the team that can go the distance. Rahul himself has performed for India as a player in World Cups and knows what it takes. Hopefully, they play well. It doesn’t matter what you do before and after the World Cup. World Cups are won based on how you do well on the day, and I hope he will pass this message across.”

India just need to bat well – Sourav Ganguly

Sourav Ganguly further said that Asia Cup 2023 and the matches against Australia will be enough preparation for the team ahead of the ICC World Cup 2023. He pointed out that to win both tournaments, they need to bat well and batters need to have flexibility. He explained:

“They will play in the Asia Cup and the three matches against Australia. They will have a camp. That should be enough. India just need to bat well. They will have to get big runs. They have the bowling, spin will play a part as the tournament progresses.

“No one is born an opener or No.4. Virat can play at No.4, or Shreyas, Rahul. When I was captain, Yuvraj was No.6, later under MS (Dhoni) he became No.4. In the 2011 World Cup final, MS came in at No.4 and won the match.”

Asia Cup 2023 will be played from 30th August to 17th September. India will open their campaign against Pakistan on 2nd September at Kandy. They recently named the squad for the tournament as well. Here’s full team:

Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul, Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Varma, Ishan Kishan, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj, Kuldeep Yadav, Prasidh Krishna, and Sanju Samson (back up).