Dada's boom till PAK, Shoaib Akhtar said - this guy changed Indian cricket

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Former Pakistan fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar has praised Ganguly fiercely. He has supported Ganguly as the President of BCCI.

Former captain of Indian team Sourav Ganguly is all set to become the next chairman of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). Now he is getting congratulations from across the border for a new role. Former Pakistan fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar has praised Ganguly fiercely. He has supported Ganguly as the President of BCCI.

‘He has a good knowledge of cricket’

Shoaib Akhtar, who played for Kolkata Knight Riders under the captaincy of Ganguly in the IPL, feels that Ganguly has changed the mindset of the players during their tough times besides changing Indian cricket as he has a good knowledge of cricket.

Akhtar said on his YouTube channel, ‘I thought that the cricket that had come to change in India was a man and his name was Sourav Ganguly. Earlier in 1997-98, I never felt that Hindustan would be able to beat Pakistan. Or I never felt that India never had a system to beat Pakistan. Sourav has changed the mental thinking of Indian cricket.

Comparing Ganguly to Imran Khan

Akhtar has compared Ganguly to Imran Khan. He said, ‘It was the same thing between him and Imran that both used to trust new players. Ganguly used to find players playing for India with his connoisseur’s eye. The same thing was there in Imran Khan, he used to choose such boys who used to bang for Pakistan. They included players like Waqar Younis, Wasim Akram, Mushtaq, Aaqib and Inzamam. Sourav Ganguly did the same thing. Players like Harbhajan Singh, Virender Sehwag, Yuvraj Singh, Gautam Gambhir, Zaheer Khan Ashish Nehra made a splash during him.

Shoaib Akhtar said, ‘Sourav Ganguly was a fearless captain. People believe that he was afraid of me. but it’s not like that. Although I have bowled him a lot of balls, he has also scared them. The problem with him was that he could not hook and pull me. He used to play cuts well, that is why Wasim Bhai once said that he should hit the balls on the ribs, so I deliberately hit the ball on his ribs in Mohali. He suffered a lot. But he never scared me. If he was afraid of me, he would never come to open against me.

It is worth noting that Ganguly is currently the president of the Cricket Association of Bengal and he is set to become the BCCI president as only one nomination has been filed for this post and that is Ganguly’s. However, Ganguly will be the BCCI boss for less than a year. In September 2020, he will go into a cooling-off period as he is the chairman of CAB for the last five years.

According to the BCCI constitution, any officer can hold a post for only six years. Currently, the BCCI command is with the Committee of Administrators, but on October 23, this committee will be relieved by handing over the responsibility to Ganguly and his new team.