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‘India will end 28-year drought’

DUBAI - Sourav Ganguly fully expects India to end their 28-year drought for ICC Cricket World Cup glory on Saturday evening with victory over Sri Lanka in Mumbai.

The Prince of Calcutta, 38, believes the two sides are pretty evenly-matched ahead of the competition’s first-ever all-Asian final at the Wankhede Stadium.

But, the left-handed batsman suspects that his native countrymen hold the “upper hand” having beaten supposedly stronger cricketing countries – as opposed Sri Lanka’s opposition – in their respective routes through to this weekend’s showdown.

“They’re two good teams, but I just have a feeling that India have the upper hand,” the former Kolkata Knight Riders player, who has also represented Bengal, Glamorgan, Lancashire and Northamptonshire, said.

“I simply feel it is India’s turn to win and, even though Sri Lanka were in the World Cup final last time out in 2007 and they’re there again, I’ve just got this sense that India will win this.” “They have simply got better as the tournament has gone on, especially in the quarter-finals (against holders Australia) and when it really mattered.

“They’ve really played well and beaten the two big teams, Australia and Pakistan, to get through to the final, whereas Sri Lanka have defeated two relatively weaker teams in England and New Zealand. That’s why I feel India have the edge in the final.” Ganguly, of course, captained the national team between 2000 and 2005 with distinction, with many observers believing him to be India’s most successful skipper.

Many of the current crop were brought through the ranks during Ganguly’s reign at the helm, so it naturally gives him plenty of satisfaction to see them prosper at the very highest level of the sport.

“It has been a similar team to the ones in 2003 and 2007,” he added. “Sachin (Tendulkar), (Virender) Sehwag, Yuvraj (Singh), Harbhajan (Singh), Zaheer (Khan), (Ashish) Nehra and (current skipper Mahendra Singh) Dhoni himself came along when I was captain, so it has been a good team and Indian cricket has really gone forward in the last 10 years.

“We also had a team to win the World Cup in 2007, but that did not happen, so it’s good that we are in the final again. We’ve been in two finals out of the last three World Cups and, hopefully, we can win this.”

Ganguly knows only too well then about the expectancy and pressures associated with leading cricket-mad India into competitive action and he credits the “brilliant” captaincy of Dhoni for continuing “a good chain of results that have been happening for some time now.”

Meanwhile, Ganguly believes the national news coverage back home shall be dominated for a week if India do eventually prevail against Sri Lanka, having seen the round-the-clock attention given to their 29-run semi success against arch rivals Pakistan.

That tense triumph has left some to speculate whether India will have much left in the tank with one game remaining, but Ganguly has completely dismissed that notion.

“I don’t think so as this is a matured team,” he added. “I know that an India versus Pakistan match can be draining, both mentally and physically, and they are playing the final within three days of the semi.

“But, it’s a World Cup final at the end of the day and I’m sure they will be ready for it.”

alex@khaleejtimes.com