‘Too early to call India No.1’ – Ganguly

SOURAV Ganguly, the former Indian captain, has said India must prove themselves overseas before claiming to be the world’s best team and that South Africa had the better team and attack – and the better record, home and away.

His comments come when Australia are on a losing streak and their rivals are fighting to dislodge them from the top of world cricket.

“To say that India would be number one, I think it’s a bit too early”, Ganguly told India’s NDTV. “Look at the ICC points rankings … Australia, though they have not played good cricket for the last 3-4 months, are still a few points away from the rest.

“India have a very good team but I believe their real test will be overseas, when India go to New Zealand and when they start travelling abroad. If you look at the last year, India have played a lot of cricket at home.”

Ganguly said South Africa were currently the better team after their tremendous run in 2008, and felt India’s team and all-round attack had yet to measure up to South Africa’s, who, if they win the third Test in Sydney, will take over the No.1 spot on the ICC Test rankings.

“If you look at South Africa’s performance in the last nine series, they have not dropped a series. It’s been all round the world. They have beaten Australia in Australia; they went to England and beat them convincingly.” India played nine home Tests in 2008, winning four and losing one, and six away Tests, with two wins and three defeats.

However, Ganguly was impressed with Indian cricket’s improvement in facilities as well as performance, and felt the changes were made possible largely due to the huge revenues cricket administrators in India have been able to generate.

“To be honest, the system has improved quite a lot. That’s bound to happen. Things progress. Indian cricket has had the luck to have money to run cricket. You can see that in some of the stadiums which have been built, some of the facilities which are being provided to the Test-playing centres. We played a Test in Nagpur and that’s a fabulous venue for Test cricket. (Cricinfo)

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