Sourav Ganguly says Suresh Raina ready for 'bigger challenges'; backs Yuvraj Singh to come good

Sourav Ganguly

Indian middle order batsman Suresh Raina has found strong support from former Indian skipper Sourav Ganguly, who believes that the left-hander’s place in the Indian T20 team is ‘unquestionable’. Ganguly has also stated that Raina’s good form at the ongoing World T20 in Bangladesh will stand him in good stead when the Indian team travels for tough tours to England and Australia later in the year.

Raina, after making scores of 41, 54, 35* and 1* in Bangladesh, had credited Ganguly for giving him a little bit of advice, which has brought about his good run of form recently.

“I never had any doubts about Suresh’s talent and ability. He has always been a class act in shortest format. He is a dangerous T20 batsman and a big threat for any opposition team. I am certainly hopeful that his current form in ICC World T20 will translate into something bigger and better in the coming days,” Ganguly said.

“There will be tougher battles ahead (England tour in July-September, Australia tour and World Cup) and I would ideally want to him get success in those battles,” he said.

Asked about the kind of technical inputs he has given to Raina, Ganguly said, “Yes, I have had interactions with Suresh but what I told him is a very personal thing between two individuals and not for media consumption. He is a colleague and it is my duty to help him if he ever needs any. I am always there to help anyone who needs my advice and I don’t believe in making a hue and cry about it.”

Ganguly also expressed full faith in Yuvraj Singh’s ability to turn his indifferent form around and said that too much should not be read into it. The former skipper was of the opinion that Yuvraj is going through a lean patch like every other international cricketer has at some point in their careers.

“It’s only two matches that Yuvraj has not got runs. We should not make a big fuss about it. He is a human being and can go through a tough phase. He has the talent to overcome this. Show me one sportsman who has played at the top level for 14, 15 or 16 years and never had a slump in form? This is bound to happen as that’s how the nature of sport is,” said Ganguly.

Ganguly said that Yuvraj just needed to keep his self belief and work hard in the nets before he can regain top form.

“Self belief is always the key and also Yuvi will need to work even harder now. His time will certainly come and he will have to ready to grab his chance then,” said Ganguly, who has made several comebacks himself during his illustrious international career.