Indian Cricket Sensation MS Dhoni

Sourav Ganguly today agreed with what many cricket fans in the country reckon, with the World Cup round the corner — that India’s new one-day icon Mahender Singh Dhoni has given Greg Chappell’s boys a different spunk ahead of the Caribbean challenge. 

Spelling out that the swashbuckling stumper-batsman is the main difference in the Indian team compared to the team that finished runners-up in 2003, Ganguly said: “Comparing this team to that of the last World Cup, the emergence of Dhoni is the single big addition to this team. He’s the only major difference.”

Pointing out the importance of in-form Dhoni as a batsman for the World Cup, Ganguly maintained that the remainder of the side is more or less the same.

“The core team is still the same, there isn’t much of a difference in the composition of the core players between the 2003 and the 2007 sides,” the 34-year-old batsman told mediapersons this afternoon.

“In fact, there are about 10 players from this Indian team who were part of the World Cup campaign four years ago. So, as far as overall team composition is concerned, I don’t think there has been much of a change in these four years, except for Dhoni’s emergence, of course,” added Ganguly.

The former Indian captain, who is the team’s only certain opener for the mega event, will leave for Mumbai on Wednesday, where Rahul Dravid & Co will assemble and then set off for the West Indies.

With pundits seeing this edition of the World Cup as an open battle unlike the last time round, Ganguly too believes each one of the top big teams is in with a chance and there’s no overwhelming favourite for the title hunt. “It’s an open World Cup, this one. It’s anybody’s game. There are quite a few good teams, and all are in with a chance,” Ganguly said when asked to pinpoint if he sees any team as the favourite.

Ganguly had led India to the final of the World Cup in South Africa four years back.

On a day when the experienced player went hopping from one function to another, Ganguly’s last stop today was the Eden Gardens, where he was presented with a good-luck gift — a crystal ball and trophy — on behalf of the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) administration. The conspicuous absentee at the ceremony was CAB president and Kolkata Police Commissioner Prasun Mukherjee, whose mother expired a couple of days back.

No comments yet.

Comments RSS TrackBack Identifier URI