Sourav Ganguly joins big league of pundits

Sourav Ganguly (in photo) who is set to start a new post-retirement innings behind the microphone after he was today signed by ESPN STAR Sports as an expert analyst for the ICC World Twenty20, commencing in England on Saturday, said that though India had lost their first warm-up game to New Zealand, the defending champions still had a fair chance to win the World Cup again.

“Don't be worried for a warm-up game. To me India are the favourites, but to be honest and frank, nobody is favourite in a T20 game,” said he. Talking about India’s second practice-match against their traditional rivals Pakistan on Wednesday, the ex-India skipper said the cricketing battle between the two neighbouring nations was the biggest thing about cricket, and according to him even Ashes does not come closer to this age-old rivalry. Ganguly who has a three-year deal with the Indian Premier League team Kolkata Knight Riders, said he would like to play the one-day format of Ranji Trophy to keep himself fit for the shorter version of the game.

Appreciating Mahendra Singh Dhoni as a fabulous captain, who has been producing good results for India, Ganguly said it was much easier for Dhoni to handle such a pressure at the early stage of life. Ganguly now will be a part of an ESPN STAR Sports commentary panel inclusive of Ian Chappell, Ian Bishop, Wasim Akram, Sanjay Manjrekar and Nasser Hussain. Ganguly who will get going from the competition's semi-final stage, said he was "excited" about his new role, which entails interacting with his one-time team-mates.

Talking about his career as a cricket analyst said he had been a great fan of commentators like Richie Benaud, Sunil Gavaskar and Jack Bannister. Mr R C Venkateish, managing director of ESPN Software India, said Ganguly's match-reading acumen made him fit for the job.