Sourav Ganguly shies away from commenting on Ravi Shastri's 'best Indian team ever' remark

What’s the story?

Former India captain Sourav Ganguly has given his best wishes to Indian coach Ravi Shastri for his coaching stint with Team India. Earlier, Shastri had proclaimed that his team had the potential of becoming the best team ever. Ganguly, though, refrained from commenting on Shastri’s proclamation.

"To be honest, I don't have much to say on this. Wish him all the best. Given him a job to do till the World Cup in 2019 and hopefully, he will get the Cup and does the job," Ganguly told India Today.

Ganguly, however, reminded that it was under his captaincy that India won series in Pakistan for the first time in 15 years.

"You're forgetting the win in Pakistan for the first time in Pakistan in 15 years. Also the win in England in 2007. Won't go into comparisons. Wish him all the best. Want the team to do well and hopefully he will do well in the years to come," he added.

In case you didn’t know…

Earlier, India had cruised to a comfortable victory against Sri Lanka in the first Test in Galle. Following the ecstatic win, Ravi Shastri had claimed that the current Indian team had the capability to do things no other Indian team had ever done.

The heart of the matter

The former India captain heaped praise on Virat Kohli. He said that while he has all the ingredients, Kohli’s improvement as a captain has been noteworthy. Ganguly also admitted that he admires and enjoys Kohli’s batting and has also been impressed by Cheteshwar Pujara and expects him to play at least a 100 Tests.

He conceded that it would be a ‘herculean task’ for the Sri Lankan team to even compete with India, especially after the defeats to Zimbabwe in the ODI series and to India in the first test.

What’s next?

India are playing the second Test match of the series against Sri Lanka today at Colombo. They will play one more Test match before the ODI series gets underway. After the Lanka tour, they have a jam-packed schedule ahead with Australia, New Zealand and Sri Lanka set to tour India later this year.

Author’s take

While Ganguly refrained from commenting on the ‘best team’ comment, it is worth noting that, at the moment, India are one of the strongest teams in the world across all formats. This team might not be the best Indian team ever, but it can definitely be the best in the world of this generation.