Sourav Ganguly says he enjoyed IPL, would have loved to play more in the shortest format

Sourav Ganguly has said that he enjoyed the Indian Premier League (IPL) and would have played T20s longer. Ganguly has never played an international T20 match for India but has featured in five editions of the IPL. He had led Kolkata Knight Riders from 2008 to 2010 seasons and then captained the now-defunct Pune Warriors India in the next two editions. The 2012 edition of the cash-rich event turned to be Sourav's last season as he was not retained by the franchise in 2013. 

'T20 is very important': 

“T20 is very important. I would have changed my game. It’s the license to keep swinging and keep hitting", said the former Indian skipper while replying to a question on the Board of Control for Cricket in India  (BCCI) Twitter handle during a chat show with Indian Test opener Mayank Agarwal.

“I would have loved to play T20, although I did play for the first five years of the IPL. I think I would have enjoyed T20,” the current BCCI President added.

Meanwhile, during the same interactive session, Dada had also recalled his captaincy days and talked about that famous Natwest tri-series triumph in 2002 and the Men In Blue's 2003 World Cup campaign. 

"The Natwest finals had its own charm, when you win in England on a Saturday in Lord's, its a remarkable feeling. It was a packed house and its a remarkable experience when you play in front of a packed stadium at Lords," said Ganguly."It was a great moment, we all got carried away, but that's what sport is when you win, you celebrate, that is one of the great cricket matches I have been part of," he added.

"2003 World Cup has a special place, we got smashed by Australia in the finals, they were the best team in that generation as I have said before, beating every team in the tournament except for Australia, I thought it was a great achievement," Dada further added.

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Sourav Ganguly's illustrious career

Sourav Ganguly is one of the best captains in the history of Indian Cricket. Under his captaincy reign that had lasted for half-a-decade, the Indian team had reached greater heights in world cricket and also succeeded in registering many wins overseas especially in red-ball cricket. 'Dada' was also lauded by many experts of that time for his brave captaincy.

He was handed over the captaincy in 2000 when the Indian Cricket was in turmoil after that infamous match-fixing scandal broke out that included star cricketers Ajay Jadeja and former skipper Mohammad Azharuddin. Under Dada's captaincy, India had reached the finals of ICC Knockout Trophy 2000, won the Natwest tri-series in England by beating the hosts in the final that was led by Nasser Hussain, joint-winners of ICC Champions Trophy 2002 along with Sri Lanka, runners-up in the 2003 World Cup, drawing the Test series in Australia in 2003/04 and registering a historic ODI as well as Test series win against arch-rivals Pakistan in Pakistan, etc.

Sourav's captaincy ended in 2005 after his fallout with former Australian cricketer/captain-turned coach Greg Chappell. His final ICC event was the 2007 World Cup where the Men In Blue had suffered a humiliating first-round exit after losing their opening match against the then minnows Bangladesh and a must-win match against the eventual runners-up Sri Lanka. The southpaw announced his retirement from international cricket in November 2008. Dada has also worked as a commentator/analyst especially in ICC events. He had also served as the President of the Bengal Cricket Association. 

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(Image Courtesy: AP)