No cricket series amid terror strikes: Ganguly backs BCCI

New Delhi Former India captain Sourav Ganguly yesterday backed BCCIs stance of not resuming bilateral cricketing ties with Pakistan until the crossborder terrorismstopsSourav Ganguly PicPTIPCB had requested its Indian counterpart to host a bilateral series in December this year as per an Memorandum of Understanding MoU signed between the two boardscomprising five series in eight years till 2023 BCCI had promised to take up the matter with the government of India but the recent Gurdaspur terror attackshave prompted Board secretary Anurag Thakur to declare that cricket will take a backseat for a while and Ganguly could not agree moreI think BCCI is correct in saying that terror will have to completely go before play could happen Because as human beings we also want terror to completely go Ganguly told mediapersons during an Apollo Munich Health Insurance event for a Dengue Care plan hereSo this has always been the case with an IndiaPakistan series As much as we understand that it is entertaining and it is an highprofile series we cannot take away the sufferings which the people go through at the border especially after what happened in Gurdaspur yesterday he addedThis has been going on for while When we went to Pakistan in 2004 I was fortunate enough to be the captain of the side and we won the Test and the ODI series for the first time in Pakistan That series happened after 15 years the former captain fondly recollected Ganguly 43 is also hopeful that recently exoneratedfrom the MCOCA charge by a Delhi court former India mediumpacer Sreesanth will also get relief from BCCI which has till now refused to revoke his life banI think he has been cleared by the Delhi court and the BCCI has said that the disciplinary action on him continues And I believe he has been relieved by the Delhi court of criminal charges I think the BCCI gives an opportunity to every player to come back and play and I think a dialogue would happen between BCCI and SreesanthIf the board feels that the clearance from the Delhi court is fine I am sure it will make way for the him to come back and play cricket Ganguly expressed hopeThe Kerala Cricket Association I believe has supported Sreesanth and requested the BCCI to help him and get back on the path And thats how it should be I think in a few months time when the BCCI is convinced that everything is fine and clear they will let him play he addedBeing part of the BCCI cricket advisory committee alongside Sachin Tendulkar and VVS Laxman Ganguly is happy with the recent developments in Indian cricket and said that Ravi Shastri is doing a good job as Team Director At the present moment he Shastri has been asked to continue as Team Director by the board till at least the Sri Lanka tourEven Anurag Thakur has said in an interview that after the Lanka tour we will sit and find out if we need a coach Because we have enough people support staff in the team Ravi is the director of the team and I dont see any difference between a Director and a coach Gangulys answer was indicative of what his take was regarding this issueSo thats the way board has thought about it With Sanjay Bangar and Bharat Arun and the fielding coach we dont need any more than this at the present moment I think they were very wise in giving Ravi a full go after he joined the team in England last year so its been just one year and why not give him a full go he addedNot willing to comment on the IPL mess Ganguly still believes that the cashrich league will carry on with eight teams and even more in the future Firstly the working group doesnt decide the punishment on teams thats done by the BCCI working committee Whats the role of this working group is to find out a way to getthis IPL goingThe Secretary the president and Mr Rajeev Shukla the chairman of the IPL Governing Council know that eightteam IPL is absolutely neccessary because of the number of games the broadcasters and the number of agreements signed We havent yet had a meeting with the members of the working group so we are yet to discuss on it he saidYou have to play eight IPL teams thats a commitment made to the franchises and the broadcaster And from there on when those two teams comeback we can play with ten teams That has happened in the past when Sahara and Kochi franchise played I dont see this as too much of an issue he addedOne of the most successful Indian captains Ganguly also played with a straight bat to the teams response of Virat Kohli as Test captain and Mahendra Singh Dhoni as the ODI leader From this twocaptains theory India have never had that and obviously it has happened due to the retirement of MS Dhoni from Test matches But other teams in the world have had it like Australia England South Africa Sri Lanka If you win it works if you dont win it doesnt work he said