Politically-skilled Sourav Ganguly has right attitude to lead ICC: David Gower
May 15, 2020
New Delhi [India], May 15 : Former England captain David Gower has said the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) president Sourav Ganguly has 'political skills' and 'right attitude' required to lead the International Cricket Council (ICC).
"I think he is a very, very good man and has those political skills. I think he has the right attitude and can keep things together and will do a good job. And if you do a good job as BCCI chief in the future, who knows," Gower said during an interaction with fans on the Twitter handle of GloFans.
"But I would actually say the more important job, to be honest, is running the BCCI. Being head of ICC is an honour. There is a lot that can be done by the ICC, but actually look at the rankings, look at where the power is heading up. The BCCI is definitely the bigger job," continued Gower.
Ahead of "Q20", a unique chat show for the fans presented by GloFans, Gower said to run the BCCI, a person has to be 'many, many things'.
"I have had many chats with him over the years and he obviously was a very fine player and his records speak for themselves. One thing I have learned over the years is that if you are going to run the BCCI, you need to be many, many things. Having a reputation like he has is a very good start, but you need to be a very deft politician. You need to have control over a million different things," Gower said.
"And of course, you need to be responsible for a game that is followed by, I mean, should we say a billion people here in India? We all know about the immense following for cricket in India. So, it is indeed a wonderful thing to behold. Sourav has the toughest task imaginable in charge of BCCI, but so far I would say the signs are very good. He has listened, given his own opinion and has pulled strings gently," he added.
David is one of the marquee names alongside Waqar Younis and other sporting greats that will interact with the fans in a freewheeling chat session and answer 20 questions asked by sports fans in a special fan interactive show "Q20" that will be featured at GloFans.
Gower also opined over the ICC World Test Championship, saying that the championship came to existence because people are "worried about the survival of test match cricket."
"The idea of this World Test Championship has come about for one very simple reason that people are worried about the survival of test match cricket. Back in the seventies, eighties, I don't think we needed context to be fair. Test cricket was very much more obviously the most important format and if there was anything to be judged by, it was the performances in test matches both as an individual and as a team," he said.
"ODIs were seen as serious, but in a sense, more fun. I think everyone just believed that test cricket was the ultimate test and if you had any sort of personal pride, if you had any team pride, then you made sure that you played as well as you could in most test matches. But I think the idea is a good enough one for now, whether or not we get through it, obviously with interruption to world cricket at the moment, there are issues with that and whether or not we get to that first final in due course, we will have to wait and see," Gower added.
Gower also recalled an incident with Sunil Gavaskar when the latter called him a preacher during England's Tour to India in 1984-85.
"There were certain incidents that happened in the Eden Test and when he called me a preacher, I was amused by it and probably thought he was joking. I have a lot of respect and affection for Sunny. He's one of those men who I do look to meet forward when I am in India. We have had meals out in Mumbai and we have had meals out in the UK. He is a very, very good man and of course, one great player. I absolutely have no problem with the one preacher that used to describe me," he said.
