Ex-Pakistan Cricketer Takes A Dig At Sourav Ganguly: ‘Didn’t Expect…’

Team India suffered a 209-run defeat in the World Test Championship final last week, failing to end their ICC title drought. India's last triumph in an ICC tournament was in 2013 when they clinched the Champions Trophy title in England under the leadership of Mahendra Singh Dhoni. Since then, India has witnessed two changes in captains. They have faced defeat in four finals (T20 World Cup 2014, Champions Trophy 2017, WTC 2021, and WTC 2023) and three semi-finals (T20 World Cup 2016 and 2022, and ODI World Cup 2019).

Former India captain Sourav Ganguly, however, made a rather contentious statement when he said that he considered winning the IPL a more challenging task than winning an ICC title. Ganguly came to the defense of Rohit Sharma's captaincy after his failures in ICC events. Prior to the WTC final loss, India experienced a 10-wicket defeat to England in the T20 World Cup semi-finals last year under Rohit's captaincy.

Salman Butt questions Sourav Ganguly’s statement

Ganguly also threw his support behind current captain Rohit Sharma, stating that he had full faith in him. He mentioned that Rohit and MS Dhoni had won 5 IPL titles. According to Ganguly, winning the IPL was not an easy task due to its challenging nature.

Responding to Ganguly's statement, former Pakistan captain Salman Butt expressed his surprise and disbelief. He went on to say that he did not expect a world-class player and captain to make such a statement. He questioned the comparison between league cricket and Test (and international) cricket, emphasising that there was no basis for comparison.

According to Butt, it was not appropriate to compare the ultimate format of cricket with the shortest format, where only four international players were present in a team.

“I didn't expect a world-class player and a captain to say something like this. How can you compare league cricket with Test (and international) cricket? There's no comparison. You're comparing the ultimate format of cricket with the shortest format where only four international players are in a team? There's no comparison,” Butt said on his YouTube channel.

Coming back to Sourav Ganguly, the former India captain still believes that Rohit is India's most suitable candidate to break their ICC title drought. He explained that when Virat left, the selectors needed a captain, and Rohit emerged as the top choice at that time. Ganguly highlighted Rohit's track record, including his five IPL trophies and successful performance in winning the Asia Cup.