Sourav Ganguly believes India can defend their ICC Champions trophy title against arch-rivals Pakistan on Sunday. File Pic[/caption]Debasis Sen, Birmingham: Former India captain Sourav Ganguly feel India will start as firm favourites to win the ICC Champions Trophy final against Pakistan at the Oval on Sunday. In an exclusive interview with www.xtratime.in at the Edgbaston, Sourav shared his views regarding the Indo-Pak clash. Here goes the conversation.
XT: Did you expect an India-Pakistan final in the Champions Trophy?
Sourav: No, you don’t expect things in cricket. The difference between sides are so little. And India by far is the superior side in one-day cricket, above the rest. So, you know I expected India to go, but obviously did not expect Pakistan to go. I thought the other teams like Australia, England, South Africa would perform a lot better.”
XT: Are you surprised England is not there in the final?
Sourav: I’m not surprised. I saw them play the other day at Cardiff. Pakistan played much better cricket, bowled much better than England, batted much better than England. And they were outplayed, just like India outplayed Bangladesh yesterday, Pakistan outplayed England. So, I’m not surprised at all.
XT: What would be the key for the final at the Oval?
Sourav: I think India is a far superior side. If you go by man-to-man, India is a much better side than Pakistan. It’s just that India will have to keep playing the way they have.
XT: How can you predict that Pakistan will be in the final and in doing so won a bet against Shane Warne?
Sourav: No no, I didn’t bet against him with Pakistan being in the final. We were having a challenge that England will beat Australia. He said no, Australia will beat England. I said no no no, England will beat Australia. That was the challenge. Pakistan was nowhere in the picture.
XT: Has not Bangladesh improved a lot? What are they lacking at the moment?
Sourav: Ya, they have improved a lot. But, they are far from being a complete team. You know when they play sides like India, who are in such hot form, it is very difficult for them to put up a show. You know what disappointed me was the lack of fight. 264 was still the total, everyday you don’t get 300, but the intensity of the Bangladesh players on the field was really poor. It’s not expected from a team which is playing a World championship semi-final.
XT: Tell us something what goes on in a cricketers mind during a India-Pakistan clash and that too in a final.
Sourav: I think India will go in confident because they have had the better of Pakistan so many times of late. But at the same time, they will be aware that this Pakistan side on the first day in Birmingham and this Pakistan side which will land in Oval next Sunday will be a completely different one. This Pakistan side has gone past South Africa, Sri Lanka and more so, England, who are a very good one-day side. So, it will be a different Pakistan. But you know the biggest challenge for Pakistan is to play well against India and somehow they just don’t turn up well against India these days.
XT: What according to you are the strengths of the Pakistan team?
Sourav: Bowling, obviously, bowling is their strength. Against England, I was just pleasantly surprised to see the way they have bowled and especially the way they have fielded in that game in Cardiff.
XT: What are the positives for India so far in this tournament?
Sourav: Everything, I think. Jasprit Bumrah has turned out to be the best fast bowler in the team, the spinners have done well. The top-order batting, you can’t find a way to get Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli out. So, it’s a terrific side. It’s a side which has got very few weaknesses at the moment.
XT: Would you be advocating a change in the playing XI for the final?
Sourav: No no no, its going to be the same team. India will not change anything in the final.
XT: Your thoughts about Yuvraj’s 300 ODI matches.
Sourav: Ya, incredible. He’s probably one of the five players to play 300 at one-day games for India. The other four being Sachin, Rahul, myself and Mohammed Azharuddin. So, it’s a remarkable achievement. What stands out for me is what he has done in the last two years after fighting cancer and coming out of cancer making such a remarkable comeback. Its like the Yuvraj Singh of old, last one and a half years. Knowing he has very few years left in him, probably till the World Cup in 2019 and hopefully he plays well.
XT: Virat Kohli has become the quickest batsman to reach 8000 runs mark. Your views about his recent milestone?
Sourav: Remarkable, you know, to get past everyone to be the fastest is a terrific achievement. And he is not even 30. He’s got good 8-9 years of cricket left and he will finish with lot of runs in one-day cricket.
XT: According to you, who would be the favourites to win the final?
Sourav: India. India are a far better side. I don’t believe in favourites. But, India are a far better side.
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