Former India captain Sourav Ganguly warned India ahead of their upcoming blockbuster clash against arch-rivals Pakistan in the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024, scheduled to run from June 1 to 29.
Ganguly mentioned India’s superior record against Pakistan in the World Cups but acknowledged the Green Shirts as more dangerous in the shortest format.
“Our record against Pakistan has been very, very good over a long period of time. In the T20 format, probably Pakistan is more dangerous compared to 50- overs (format). We beat them in Ahmedabad when they came to India and we beat them easily,” stated Ganguly.
“India is superior and if they play well, if they play freely and I keep saying the word ‘freely’ all the time because (in) the last World Cup in Australia, I don’t think we played freely.
“Just put all the cobwebs behind. Don’t worry about winning or losing. Don’t think about winning the World Cup. Just go and play every game.”
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Sourav Ganguly further claimed that the inaugural champions “have very good chances” in the forthcoming mega event, highlighting their immense talent.
“India have very good chances in the World Cup. India will have to play like a T20 team. There is enormous talent,” he said.
“Play without fear and just keep hitting. There is enormous talent, (this is) a team which has (Virat) Kohli, Rohit (Sharma), Surya (Suryakumar Yadav), (Rishabh) Pant, (Shivam) Dubey, (Hardik) Pandya, (Ravindra) Jadeja, Axar (Patel), (Jasprit) Bumrah, Sanju (Samson),” he said when asked about India’s chances.
“That’s why I say everyone is capable of winning it for India and the only way they will do it is (if they) just play with freedom.
“Play with that extra batsman and hit from the first ball, hit till you have to defend (and) play like the last ball,” he added.
Notably, India, alongside Pakistan, Canada, Ireland and the co-host United States of America (USA) are placed in Group A.
They will start their ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024 campaign against Ireland on June 5 before taking on Pakistan on June 9 in New York.
India Squad for T20 World Cup 2024
Rohit Sharma (c), Hardik Pandya (vc), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant (wk), Sanju Samson (wk), Shivam Dube, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Arshdeep Singh, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohd. Siraj.
Reserves: Shubman Gill, Rinku Singh, Khaleel Ahmed and Avesh Khan.
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