Ganguly says he was never worried about India's future after Rohit and Kohli's retirements: '''There will be someone…’

Former India captain Sourav Ganguly said he wasn’t too worried about the team’s future after Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli’s sudden retirement from Test cricket last month, stating that Indian cricket has enough talent in the current generation to fill the void.

Ganguly made the statement while heaping praise on opener Yashasvi Jaiswal and captain Shubman Gill, who succeeded Rohit as Test leader, for their excellent knocks in the first Test against England that is currently underway at Headingley, Leeds.

Ganguly heaps praise on Gill and Jaiswal after centuries at Headingley

Jaiswal and Gill struck centuries on the opening day of the series opener in Leeds, with wicketkeeper-batter Rishabh Pant also bringing up the milestone on the following day . India, as a result, ended Day 1 in a dominant position of 359/3.

“I am so happy to see his feet (movement) away from home, there’s a massive improvement in that away from home. Shubman’s feet were fantastic, didn’t make a mistake,” Ganguly told PTI in an interview.

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“I think England shouldn’t have bowled on that wicket and they also didn’t bowl well enough. His (Gill’s) feet movement was fantastic, I hope it is a permanent thing with him because if he keeps batting like this in England and away conditions, he is going to score a lot of runs,” he added.

The trio of Jaiswal, Gill and Pant eased concerns regarding the Indian batting lineup after Rohit and Kohli’s retirement announcements – which came in the span of a week last month and took the entire cricketing world by surprise, especially in the latter’s case.

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Ganguly, who had served as BCCI president from 2019 to 2022 and has also mentored Delhi Capitals in the Indian Premier League, claimed he was never worried about the future of Team India after Rohit and Kohli’s retirements.

“I was never worried about Indian cricket. There will be someone taking Indian cricket forward. I am not surprised with Yashasvi (Jaiswal) because I rate him as a fantastic batter, he is someone who should play all formats,” he added.

Despite centuries from Jaiswal, Gill and Pant, India failed to cross 500 at Headingley – getting bowled out for 471 on Day 2 after a batting collapse in which they lost their last seven wickets for just 41 runs. Captain Ben Stokes and Josh Tongue collected four wickets each, for 66 and 86 runs respectively.