Play with freedom in T20 WC final: Ganguly backs Rohit Sharma to help India end ICC trophy drought

Kolkata: Former Indian skipper Sourav Ganguly on Friday said Rohit Sharma's leadership qualities played a big hand in India's unbeaten run in the ongoing T20 World Cup, and urged the team to play with freedom in the final against South Africa to end a 11-year wait for an ICC trophy.

India will face the Proteas in the title clash at Bridgetown, Barbados, and will be eyeing their first global trophy since winning the Champions Trophy in 2013.

"I'm very happy for Rohit Sharma. Life comes full circle. Six months ago he was not even the captain of Mumbai Indians and the same man is now leading India to a World Cup final, unbeaten," Ganguly said here after being roped in as the brand ambassador of Veedol.

The former BCCI president revealed that Rohit was reluctant to take up the captaincy role after Virat Kohli vacated the hot seat.

"He has played two World Cup finals where he has gone into the final unbeaten. That speaks of his captaincy and leadership quality and I'm not surprised because he became captain when I was the BCCI president and when Virat didn't want to captain India anymore.

"It took a lot of time to make him captain because he was not ready to captain. It took a lot of pushing from all of us to make him captain and I'm very happy to see the progress of Indian cricket under him." Ganguly said winning IPL titles could sometimes be more challenging because of the duration of the tournament.

"Rohit has the record of winning five IPL titles, which is a huge achievement. Winning an IPL sometimes is more difficult. Don't misquote me, I'm not saying IPL is better than international cricket.

"But you have to win 16-17 (12-13) matches to win an IPL; here you need to win 8-9 matches to win a World Cup. The honour is more in winning the World Cup, and I hope Rohit does it tomorrow." "I don't think he can lose two World Cup finals in seven (six) months. He will probably jump into the Barbados ocean if he loses two finals under his captaincy in seven months. He has led from the front, batted brilliantly, and I hope it continues tomorrow. Hope India finishes on the right side, and they should play with freedom.

"They have been the best side of the competition. I wish them luck, I wish they win. Hope they have a little bit of luck tomorrow because that is required to win big tournaments," Ganguly added.

Since their Champions Trophy victory, India have reached the final of the 2014 T20 World Cup, 2023 50-over World Cup and the WTC final twice without winning any of them.

"I look at it differently. At least we are getting to the finals, we can only win once we get to the final," he said.

"The positive thing is India is not getting eliminated. Secondly, they are dominating. You saw the World Cup in India seven months ago; they were the best side in the competition, although they lost to Australia in the final.

"They were a better side than Australia right through the tournament; they just had one bad day," he pointed out.

Ganguly said it's a huge moment for South African cricket to enter their maiden World Cup final, 32 years after their return to international cricket.

"It's a huge moment for South African cricket. Imagine a team that came back to international cricket in 1992, and it took them 32 years to play in a World Cup final. So, it's going to be a big day for both teams," he said.

Star batter Virat Kohli is having a modest run in this World Cup while coming in as an opener, but Ganguly felt he should not drop down to No. 3.

"Virat should continue to open. He just had a World Cup of 700 runs seven months ago. He is human. Sometimes, he will also fail, and you have to accept it.

"People like Kohli, (Sachin) Tendulkar, (Rahul) Dravid, they are institutions for Indian cricket. Three-four matches don't make them weaker players. Don't rule him out in the final tomorrow," added Ganguly.

India a dominant force by its performance ============================= Former England captain Michael Vaughan has been critical of the ICC, accusing it of favoring India with a spin-friendly venue in the World Cup semifinal at Guyana.

Vaughan also accused broadcasters of giving India a favorable time slot of 8pm IST in all their matches.

Dismissing such claims, Ganguly said: "Michael Vaughan is a very dear friend of mine. I don't know how ICC helps India win cricket matches by keeping the broadcast at 8 pm IST in the evening. I don't know how broadcasting wins you cricket matches. You still have to play in the middle and win." "Secondly, I don't know why Guyana is thought to be a venue for winning when they have gone around and won everywhere." Ganguly underlined his point by saying that India's consistent on-field performance makes it a dominant force.

"Yes, India are a dominant force in world cricket, by its performance, by its broadcast, and by the money it brings to the table.

"You know if you own 80 percent of a company's shares, you will get more dividends and profits than others. It's the rule of life. India are the same," he said.