Suresh Raina's credentials as T20 batsman unquestionable: Sourav Ganguly

Former India captain Sourav Ganguly feels that Suresh Raina's ability as a T20 batsman is "unquestionable" and his success in the ongoing World T20 will give him confidence to get ready for "bigger battles" ahead.

Raina's sequence of scores, including the two warm-up games, are 41, 54, 35 not out and 1 not out and he had credited Ganguly for giving him tips which proved to be invaluable in his recent success. "I never had any doubts about Suresh's talent and ability. He has always been a class act in shortest format. He is a dangerous T20 batsman and a big threat for any opposition team. I am certainly hopeful that his current form in ICC World T20 will translate into something bigger and better in the coming days," Ganguly told PTI in an interview today. "There will be tougher battles ahead (England tour in July-September, Australia tour and World Cup) and I would ideally want to him get success in those battles," he said.

Asked about the kind of technical inputs he has given to Raina, Ganguly said, "Yes, I have had interactions with Suresh but what I told him is a very personal thing between two individuals and not for media consumption. He is a colleague and it is my duty to help him if he ever needs any. I am always there to help anyone who needs my advice and I don't believe in making a hue and cry about it.

For someone, who had been a mentor to Yuvraj Singh during the early part of his career, Ganguly said people should not read too much into the left-handed batsman's indifferent form at the moment. "It's only two matches that Yuvraj has not got runs. We should not make a big fuss about it. He is a human being and can go through a tough phase. He has the talent to overcome this. Show me one sportsman who has played at the top level for 14, 15 or 16 years and never had a slump in form? This is bound to happen as that's how the nature of sport is," said Ganguly.