Pakistan targets Sourav Ganguly, hopes to break morale.

The atmosphere gets hotter and hotter. As the India - Pakistan cricket series approaches, former Pakistan players have started playing mind games in a hope of weakening the morale of the Indian players. And for this they have targeted the weakest link in the Indian team, former India captain Sourav Ganguly.

The Indian cricket team has been mired into controversies for quite sometime now over the sacking of Ganguly from the Indian team and his later inclusion for the tour of Pakistan. Many former Pakistan players believe Rahul Dravid’s side is low on team spirit and that’s going to suit the hosts’ purpose in the series starting next month.

Waqar Younis, former Pakistan fast bowler, earlier this week had commented that the the Indian selectors had taken a step back by selecting Sourav Ganguly for next month’s gruelling cricket tour of Pakistan. “I think the Indian selectors have taken a step back by picking Sourav because he is certainly not a player in form. I saw him batting in the New Delhi Test (against Sri Lanka) and he was clearly struggling to put bat to the ball” Younis said.

And now other players have followed suit. “It is no secret that neither the Indian captain Rahul Dravid nor their coach Greg Chappell wanted him in the team. Then he has been preferred over someone like Mohammad Kaif who has been doing well for them recently. It’s obvious that his presence in the dressing room will not be the best thing for their team spirit in Pakistan,” a well-known former Test player was quoted as saying.

“I don’t know but it appears as they’ve problems there over his selection. And I think Ganguly himself will be under a lot of pressure to perform now given the circumstances in which he has been selected for the Pakistan tour,” Mushtaq Mohammad, the former Test captain, said.

Rashid khan, former Test player said, “I don’t know, but all the signs are there that the Indian team which tours Pakistan this year and the one that came last year and won in Pakistan are going to be two different outfits.”

Other former players were also reported to be airing similar views. Now the onus would be on the Indian team and mainly Ganguly to prove that controversies do not affect their Cricket. It would be the responsibility of the senior players, coach and team management to keep aside all the problems and concentrate on Cricket. Ganguly should now keep his mind focussed and plan to shut the mouth of his detractors with tons of runs.

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