Pragyan Ojha lauds Sourav Ganguly’s contribution to India’s 2011 World Cup win

Pragyan Ojha believes that despite Sourav Ganguly’s retirement in 2008, the former India captain played a sizeable role in the team’s success in the 2011 World Cup.

The former India spinner opined that it was Sourav Ganguly, who nurtured players like Virender Sehwag, Yuvraj Singh, Zaheer Khan, Ashish Nehra, Harbhajan Singh, etc., who played a critical role in India’s 2011 World Cup campaign. In fact, even MS Dhoni made his international debut under Sourav Ganguly’s captaincy.

On the tenth anniversary of India’s 2011 World Cup win, Pragyan Ojha emphasized the importance of the process and lauded Sourav Ganguly’s role.

“And one Man, I feel, who had contributed even if he was retired was Sourav Ganguly. If you see, there were 5-6 members from the team that Sourav Ganguly had nurtured. That’s why I say, always believe in the process,” Pragyan Ojha said on Sports Today before talking about the team effort.

“Mahi bhai (MS Dhoni) finished the game with the last-ball six, but the contribution that everyone made was superb. Like if you talk about Zak (Zaheer Khan), to me the most important part was breaking those partnerships in the middle overs, that is where the game is decided, and that’s what he did to perfection.

"Then we had Munaf Patel, then we had Suresh Raina, Yusuf Pathan, Sachin paaji (Sachin Tendulkar), Viru paa (Virender Sehwag), Gauti bhai (Gautam Gambhir) and who can forget Yuvi paa (Yuvraj Singh). Who can forget the way he was the Man of the tournament. It was a collective effort,” Ojha said about India’s team effort throughout the World Cup.

Will forever cherish the 2011 World Cup win: Pragyan Ojha

Pragyan Ojha was part of the national side between 2008 and 2013 but was not a regular squad member. The left-arm spinner wasn’t a part of the squad in 2011 and missed out on a World Cup medal. However, he reckons the win was personal for him and something he will cherish forever.

“No different than others [the feeling of watching India win]. As an Indian, seeing India win the World Cup. Any game that they win is special but the World Cup in India and in Mumbai, it cannot be better than that. I think everyone had come out and celebrated on the streets. It’s one of the best memories because when India won the World Cup in 1983, I was not even born.

“So 2011 win is something that I can tell my kids and grandkids, and this was when India won the World Cup, and I was part of it. Even if we were not in the dressing room, but all of us were part of it. That is why this World Cup is so special for all of us,” Pragyan Ojha added.

India remains the only side to have won a 60-over, 50-over and 20-over World Cup.