Former Indian players pinpoint Pakistan, West Indies for T20 supremacy
Under Dhoni, India won the inaugural Twenty20 World Cup in South Africa in 2007 and lifted the 50-over World Cup on home soil last year.
Boasting a side packed with exciting stroke-makers, India will head to Sri Lanka for the September 18-October 7 tournament as one of the favourites.
However, Ganguly mentioned Pakistan's chances of claiming a second Twenty20 global title to add to their victory in the tournament three years ago.
"They have got bundles of talent. If they get going, they can be very dangerous," he said.
Former India player Sanjay Manjrekar also reckoned Pakistan, who have not hosted international cricket since 2009 because of the volatile security situation at home, would give a good account of themselves in Sri Lanka.
"The thing with Pakistan is that because there is not enough cricket happening back home, they are not in the spotlight very often. Come an ICC event, that's Pakistan's opportunity to show the world what they are made of.”
"They have always been the show-off of world cricket. Pakistanis have that thing about showing off their skills. Shoaib Akhtar, you know, wanted to show off his bowling.”
"This is the time for them to get the attention of the cricket-loving public and they would want to seize it."
Both former players, however, still expect India to stave off every challenge and go on to win the title.
"India always have a great chance, especially in limited-overs cricket. They have got the players who can clear the boundary with ease and they will be playing in the sub-continent," Ganguly enthused.
"The Indian team has got plenty of match winners... and if the pitch is conducive to spin, Dhoni is a master of using his slow bowlers," Manjrekar added.
Talking about West Indies' skills in the shortest form of the sport, Ganguly said: "They are a powerhouse.”
"Guys like Chris Gayle, (Kieran) Pollard, Dwayne Smith, Andre Russel, and they got (off-spinner) Sunil Narine. He can be a match-winner.”
"They also have a good fast bowling attack with Fidel Edwards and Kemar Roach - all bowling at 90 miles an hour," Ganguly added as former India player Sanjay Manjrekar, sitting next to him, nodded in approval.
"West Indies is a strong Twenty20 team because they have got the best four Twenty20 players in the world," said Manjrekar, who played 37 tests and 74 one-day internationals from 1987-1996.
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T20 is a game where even a club side can beat a star studded side on a given day. Add to that the format. Its such that any team can win.
@ali
I made that observation after the last SriLanka-Pakistan series where your team squandered several chances to win the series and eventually lost by 3-1. In view of that performance, it can be said that there is a psychological limitation that hinders the performance of the Pakistani team. In crunch situations, they don't seem to come up with their best performance, hence that conclusion.
This is likely taken out of context. I bet these two were asked on some tv/radio show to rate all the teams in the competition and they went through them all and said something nice. Likely why both finished off the analysis with India hoisting the cup.
Manjrekar's comments aren't even really supportive. It's the equivalent of saying 'If Team A plays really well, and manages to put up close to 200 and take 10 wickets before Team B reaches the score, they WILL win'. Indeed.
@anonymous indian they dint posses the so called mental toughness in the 2nd T20 world cup and yet they managed to win it.
I think both Saurav Ganguly and Sanjay Manjrekar are overestimating the Pakistani team here. They just don't possess the mental toughness to progress in tense situations. As far as West Indies is concerned, yes they are the real black horse in this tournament, but they are not consistent enough and that could be their Achilles heel. Hope India makes the cut. It will be an interesting T-20 world cup.
@Indian Khan: What match were you watching ? They lost by 1 wicket and also beat and drew with India u19's. They finished 8th because they never played a full strength team in the plate championships. Of course, youre too self involved and cynical to notice this
This time Green Shirts will not let fulfill Dhoni's Dream......Inshallah