Kolkata/IBNS: Backing Indian skipper Rohit Sharma to end the country's ICC trophy drought for the last 11 years, former Indian captain and ex-president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), Sourav Ganguly, predicted that India will clinch the T20 World Cup trophy, beating South Africa in the final.

"I am very happy for Rohit Sharma. Six months ago, he was not even the captain of Mumbai Indians, and the same man now is leading India to the world cup final unbeaten," Sourav Ganguly said.

"Rohit has captained India in two world cups -- one in India [ICC WC 2023] and one in USA and West Indies [T20 WC 2024] -- and in both tournaments, team India reached final unbeaten," Sourav Ganguly added. "I am very happy to see the progress of Indian cricket under him."

Ganguly made the comment during an event in Kolkata on Friday, a day before India will take on South Africa in the T20 World Cup final in Barbados.

The former cricketer said that it is a big moment for South Africa too as the team is playing a world cup final for the first time since the country was introduced to the international cricket in 1992.

"I said before the World Cup began that India is a fantastic team, and I'm not surprised after seeing them reaching the final unbeaten," he said.

Commenting on team management's decision to send Virat Kohli to open, Ganguly said, "Virat Kohli should open in the final. He just had a world cup with 700 runs. He is human, someday he also fails, so we have to accept that."

"People like Virat Kohli, Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid are institutions for the Indian cricket. Kohli is once in a generation batsman, he will come back," he said.

Days ago, former England captain Michael Vaughan accused the International Cricket Council (ICC) of favouring Indian cricket team over the other teams in the ongoing T20 World Cup and criticized the global cricket governing body's scheduling of the tournament.

Reacting to Michael Vaughan's allegations, Sourav Ganguly said, "I really don't know how ICC is helping India winning games by scheduling a broadcast time. I don't understand Vaughan's comments on this."