BCCI President Sourav Ganguly opened up on the evolution of cricket and said that the IPL generates more revenue than English Premier League. Cricket has evolved a lot and looking at the last two decades the cash-rich Indian Premier League has played a big role in that. Since its inception in 2008, the franchise league tournament has grown massively as a result cricketers across the globe wish to participate in it to showcase their talent.
Ganguly was elected as the 39th president of the BCCI in 2019. Before taking over the charge at BCCI, the legendary cricketer was the President of Cricket Association of Bengal.
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The former India captain is elated to witness the growth of cricket and said it will continue to evolve in coming years.
“I’ve seen the game evolve, where players like me earned a few hundreds and now have the potential of earning crores. This game is run by the fans, by the people of this country, and by the BCCI, which was formed by cricket fans. This sport is strong and will continue to evolve. The IPL generates more revenue than the English Premier League. It makes me feel happy and proud that the sport I love has evolved to become so strong,” said Ganguly at India Leadership Council Event while speaking to Deepak Lamba, CEO, Worldwide Media, President, Times Strategic Solutions Limited.
Ganguly is ranked among one of the best captains of Indian cricket as he built a team where there was a mix of experienced stars like Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Anil Kumble and young players like Yuvraj Singh, Zaheer Khan, Virender Sehwag, Harbhajan Singh and Mohammad Kaif. He led the Indian team to the final of the 2003 ODI World Cup.
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Talking about his leadership style, Ganguly said that he never looked to compete with his teammates but his primary aim was to collaborate with them.
“Captaincy, to me, is leading a team on the ground, and leadership, to me, is building a team. So, whether I worked with Sachin, Azhar, or Dravid, I didn’t compete with them; instead, I collaborated with them as leaders and shared responsibility,” he said.
He further talked about how leading the team and holding a position in BCCI is similar for him.
“I believe that the common thing is managing individuals. This country has exceptional talent, ranging from young players to young corporate employee. I genuinely believed that if I wanted to be the captain of a successful team, I had to respect my colleagues so that they could become good players, and that it’s never the other way around; you can’t keep everything to yourself and expect good things to happen; it won’t happen,” he added.
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