By IANS,
London : For those who are tempted to pick up their notepads and pens and write Sourav Ganguly’s cricketing obituary, do it at your own peril. The former India captain is not finished yet and said he has no plans to retire.
Sourav was not included in the Rest of India squad for Irani Trophy Monday, triggering speculation whether it is the end of road for India’s most successful Test captain.
Sourav, in an interview to The Sun, said he has still a couple of years left in him. He also said that he is not driven by any financial gain to continue playing, but the sheer love for the game keeps him going.
“Now I would like to think I have a couple of years left. But I won’t say I’ll miss touring. I will miss the cricket we play – the satisfaction you get from scoring a century or from winning a Test,” Sourav was quoted as saying by the daily.
“You want to finish with reputation, not with people questioning your ability,” said the 36-year-old, who stunned the cricketing world by fighting his way back in the team in 2006 after being written off by critics.
Sourav, though, has taken in his stride that his ODIs career is all but over. He was dropped from the tri-series in Australia as skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni and the selectors chose to build a team for the future.
Sourav said he knows he will not be there for the 2011 World Cup and it was time for youngsters to take up the place.
“I miss the one-day game but the older players understand we won’t be playing in the 2011 World Cup. So now it is time for the young players to get match experience.”
“At the present moment I am playing Test cricket and Twenty20 in the Indian Premier League. With so much money involved in the IPL you still have to live up to the expectations. It doesn’t matter what age you are – you have to perform.”
“So I will finish both IPL and Test cricket at the same – at this stage of my career I am not playing for financial gain, it’s all about the performance.”
Sourav thinks that IPL’s entertainment value will help it grow bigger in coming years.
“IPL is like a movie show – three hours of big names and even teams owned by movie stars. But I fear the ICC will interfere with the IPL and try and control it more. With so much cricket involved, the future could be an international league.”
“There is pressure on my team to do well in the IPL next year, because last year we did not get the results we wanted,” he said.