Former BCCI President Sourav Ganguly, who was speculated to replace Gautam Gambhir as the coach of the Indian Test team, has maintained his faith in the Indian spinners, particularly Varun Chakravarthy, as India prepare for a title defence on home soil.
Undoubtedly, Jasprit Bumrah was the star of the Indian team and was one of their main highlights, who helped India embrace the title in 2024 in the United States and the Caribbean. But unlike those conditions, Bumrah would not have much help in his home grounds in India.
Jasprit Bumrah has been a regular on India's T20I team, but the two men who have been absolute box office for India since the previous win in the T20 World Cup include spinners Kuldeep Yadav and Varun Chakravarthy. The two have been highly successful and have picked up the most wickets for India in 2025.
Sourav Ganguly keeps faith in Indian spinner for T20 World Cup title defence
Not only will India host the ICC T20 World Cup 2026 alongside Sri Lanka, but it will also be the proud defending champion of the competition. To take advantage of the home conditions, the hosts have picked a pack of quality spinners.
India have four players in the squad, which includes Varun Chakravarthy, Washington Sundar, Axar Patel, and Kuldeep Yadav. Ahead of the marquee event, former Indian captain Sourav Ganguly believes that the spinners will play a key role for India in order to defend the title.
"Yeah, nothing (home WC) gets bigger than that, and India is always my favourite team. They have a strong spin attack, and if Chakravarthy is fit, then it's good for India,” Sourav Ganguly said in an interaction with a select media gathering, as quoted by PTI.
Sourav Ganguly chuffed to start coaching career in SA20
The 53-year-old former Indian captain has held many administrative roles in the game of cricket after his retirement; however, he never coached a team from the front line until he took up the role of head coach for the first time in his career with the Pretoria Capitals in SA20.
"First time ever in my life, head coach. But I am enjoying it. Actually, I am very close to (Delhi Capitals co-owner) Parth (Jindal), so he asked me to do this, so I did it.
"I am also learning. I may have played any number of matches and captained any amount of matches, but this is different. I am coaching, and I am doing this to learn and understand," added Sourav Ganguly, who is also associated with the IPL franchise Delhi Capitals as their Director of Cricket.
Sourav Ganguly reflects on his long-standing love with South Africa
Lastly, he also reflected on how delighted he was to have started his coaching antics in South Africa, a nation filled with so much love and affection for the game of cricket. Ganguly has pointed out that even during his playing career, he had several fateful trips to South Africa.
"This has been a great place for us. I have come so many times here, the World Cup finals, in 2003. We lost, but we were exceptional in the tournament. South Africa is a place for cricket. You can see how good the tournament is.
"The stands are full, even on a weekday, people come and watch. Whether it's Cape Town, whether it's Pretoria, whether it's Paarl because it's a cricketing country, it's been a great tournament,” he said.
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