Legendary Indian national cricket team captain Sourav Ganguly has given a blunt verdict on the current setup of the Pakistan national cricket team while speaking about the team’s recent downfall.
Sourav Ganguly, during his international cricket career from 1992 to 2008, played against several legendary Pakistani cricketers like Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis, Saeed Anwar, Inzamam-ul-Haq, Shoaib Akhtar and Shahid Afridi among others.
The aforementioned Pakistani players were genuine match-winners and had the ability to single-handedly lead their team to victory. And according to Ganguly, there are no such talented cricketers in Pakistan anymore.
Pakistan cricket recently hit a new low after the home Test series defeat against Bangladesh national cricket team by 0-2. Bangladesh Tigers surprisingly defeated them after losing the first Test by 10 wickets and the second Test by 6 wickets.
Prior to that, Pakistan faced a group stage elimination from the 2024 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup, which was won by India. In the tournament, they suffered a surprise defeat at the hands of the United States of America (USA), which was a major embarrassment for the former world champions.
Meanwhile, Sourav Ganguly, speaking at a recent promotional event in Kolkata, said that there is a “genuine shortage of talent” in Pakistan. Sourav Ganguly said, as quoted by PTI:
“I see a real shortage of talent in the country. Every time we think of Pakistan, we think of Miandad, Wasim, Waqar, Saeed Anwar, Mohammad Yousuf and Younis Khan.”
It is noteworthy that one of the biggest concerns for the Pakistan National Cricket Team has been the poor fitness of players like Shaheen Afridi, Naseem Shah, Haris Rauf, Khurram Shahzad, Ihsanullah and Aamer Jamal, who have missed a significant amount of cricket due to serious injuries.
I don’t mean this in a bad way. Pakistan in the past had some excellent cricketers, which I don’t see in this team – Sourav Ganguly
Sourav Ganguly further said that he does not see any great cricketers in the current Pakistan team and that people associated with Pakistan cricket need to sort things out quickly.
“For us, that is the memory of Pakistan, but that doesn’t win matches in the modern generation of cricket. Every generation has to produce exceptional players to win, and when I look at Pakistan in world cricket, I saw them in the West Indies World Cup, in India during the World Cup, and now after the series loss to Bangladesh, there is a dearth of talent in that country.
“People involved in sports in Pakistan will have to look into it. I am not saying this in a disrespectful way. Pakistan in the old days had some great cricketers, which I don’t see in this team,” said Sourav Ganguly.
Meanwhile, the Pakistan Cricket Board has tried to shake things up by bringing in new coaches, appointing new captains and even hiring a new curator, but things have not changed.
Earlier, there were reports that white-ball captain Babar Azam and red-ball captain Shan Masood have been sacked but as per recent reports, head coaches Gary Kirsten and Jason Gillespie have advised PCB chairman Mohsin Naqvi not to make any leadership changes.
