New Delhi: Amid speculation of Sourav Ganguly returning to the Indian team, former coach John Wright says the record of the deposed captain makes a case for his inclusion in the One-Day side.
The ex-New Zealand skipper, currently in the eye of a storm over his just-published book Indian Summers, also emphasised that he enjoyed a "steady" relationship with the Bengal batsman and there were no differences between them.
Wright’s comments come days after he had said it was an appropriate decision to have axed Ganguly from the Indian team.
He had mentioned in his book: "As much as I respect Sourav Ganguly and acknowledge his record as captain and his contribution to Indian cricket, I believe there were sound arguments for a change in leadership towards the end of my stint."
But when asked in an interview that appeared in Gulf News on Wednesday, if he felt Ganguly still has a chance to make a comeback to the national team, Wright replied: "I believe he is a great cricketer with more than 15,000 international runs and one who has given Indian cricket a certain direction."
"It will be great if he can make it."
On his relationship with Ganguly, he said: "See, we had worked for more than four-and-a-half years and I believe we had a steady relationship.
"We are in a position where if he (Sourav) comes to Christchurch, he can think of having dinner at my residence, while I can think of the same when I am in Kolkata. And I think that sums up the relationship!"
Were there any differences between him and Ganguly?
"Definitely not. There may have been the odd difference of opinions, but when you are working towards the same goal, such differences can be easily sorted out. I feel we had done the job quite well."
Wright also implored fans not to form an opinion on the basis of the excerpts that have appeared in the media and urged them to read the book in its entirety to understand his views.
"I think people should first read the book and then comment."
Wright said he was clear-cut about the roles of a captain and a coach.
"I have always believed that my role was to try and improve the performance of the whole team, and the captain was the one who led it.
"At the end of the day, he is the hands-on person while I had to pass on a few things that I thought was necessary to improve the team's performance. In those four-and-a-half years, we followed this strategy without any problem."
Asked about his controversial comments on India's selection policy, he said, "Again, there is confusion because of the extract. If you draw extracts from a portion of the chapter or what I wanted to say, it can be misinterpreted.
"My view was simple: the existing selection system needs a change. It should be done on a professional basis where the performance of the selectors would be evaluated and he should be allowed to continue if he had done a decent job.
"You should not end their term after the Indian board's Annual General Meeting every year. It is the system to be blamed, not the selectors."
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