I Won't Even Be 41 When Ipl 6 Starts, Says Sourav Ganguly

KOLKATA: Turning 40 might club him in the league of veterans but Sourav Ganguly is not yet ready to throw in the towel as far as his participation in the next edition of IPL is concerned.

"I will take a call next season. As a matter of fact, I would not be even 41 when the IPL 6 would begin in 2013," Ganguly, who turns 40 tomorrow, said when asked about his plans for next year's Indian Premier League.

This despite a poor fifth season for Pune Warriors India as the team's skipper.

Ganguly is a believer and 40 is just a number for him. Ganguly said: "40 is just a number to me. For me life is simple and consistent. It (the age) does not matter to me, it makes no difference at all.

Taking a dig at his detractors, India's most successful Test captain had earlier said: "I'm also a human and prone to failures. Somehow you have to deal with it. Many captains have failed (in the IPL) but it's Sourav Ganguly who always makes the headlines."

Asked to pick his finest moment as a cricketer, the stylish left-hander, who guided India to the 2003 World Cup final, said his entire life has been satisfying.

"I cherish my entire life. I've been blessed with a life full of good memories," Ganguly, who has the most number of Test wins (21) as captain of India, said.

At the same time, he refused to talk about former coach Greg Chappell with whom he had a stormy relationship, leading to his ouster from the Indian team in 2005.

Asked whether he regrets his decision of bringing the Aussie and get him the Indian coaching job, Ganguly said: " As I've said earlier, I don't want to talk about Greg Chappell."

He might not have put it in as many words, but Ganguly obviously seemed unhappy about Chappell's fresh salvo at him in one of the articles in a book on Rahul Dravid.

"Sadly, the success of the team (under Dravid) was not universally enjoyed within the team. Some individuals felt threatened by the new world order and appeared to work against Rahul...," wrote Chappell in the book 'Timeless Steel'.

The Aussie did not name anybody but many believed that he pointed his fingers at Ganguly again.

"I've read his comments. I don't think it has put me against Dravid," Ganguly said.

Sachin Tendulkar might be regularly opting out of the one-dayers but Ganguly felt the veteran Mumbaikar has the right to pick and choose.

"He is Sachin. He has got the right to do it. That's the way it is for the youngsters. He comes and performs for the team."

Recently, Dravid had expressed his apprehension about the future of Test cricket 10 years down the line, but Ganguly thought otherwise.

"It's difficult to predict what will happen 10 years down the line. No matter what, Test cricket will survive. I've always said Twenty20 would be popular but there will be a place for Test cricket," said Ganguly, who is also the BCCI's technical committee chairman.

He was also not unduly concerned by the fact that India's next generation batsmen came a cropper and lost the first-class series (1-2) during the recent 'A' tour of the West Indies.

Asked whether India's bench strength was not up to the mark, Ganguly said: "We will find that out. I don't think one has to worry just on the basis of the outcome of a series."

Ganguly refused to pick his favourites for the World T20 in Sri Lanka and said: "It's Twenty20, anything can happen in the format. It's very difficult to predict and pick a favourite team in this format."