KOLKATA: Former
Indian captain Sourav Ganguly is not on the same page as his former
opening partner Sachin Tendulkar, who has suggested revamping of the one
day international cricket format.
Unlike Tendulkar, Ganguly feels the current ODI format is here to stay.
"We
already have a 20-over format, so why another 25 over game? The 50 over
game has done well. We saw such a hugely successful World Cup in India.
The format is doing wonderful which was evident in the recently
concluded India-England series," said Ganguly.
Ganguly
thinks the International Cricket Council (ICC) rejected Tendulkar's
proposal not for any cricketing reasons, but because it came from an
Indian.
"It
is no surprise that it (Sachin's suggestion) has been rejected. There
is a huge idea or belief in world cricket that India is the power and
dominates world cricket. At the moment it just gives me a feeling that
oh! It has come from them, so lets put it on hold, India are too big,"
said Ganguly at a product launch event.
Earlier,
cricketing legend Tendulkar sent a letter to ICC chief Haroon Lorgat
suggesting the current ODI format of two innings of 50 over each be
changed to four innings of 25 over each.
The ICC on Wednesday dismissed the suggestion saying there was no scope for change in the format at the moment.
Ganguly,
the new designated chairperson of the Board of Control for Cricket in
India (BCCI) technical committee, toed the board's line saying the
Umpire Decision Referral System (UDRS) needs to improve a lot to become
acceptable.
"The
UDRS is an issue and I completely agree with BCCI's thought on the
system. From what I saw in the India versus England and Australia versus
Sri Lanka Series the system needs a lot of improvement. It needs lot of
updating before it becomes foolproof," added Ganguly.