Sourav Ganguly and V V S Laxman need to show more consistency if they hope to regain their places in India's one-day squad, chief selector Dilip Vengsarkar says.
Vengsarkar was also critical about Laxman's fitness.
"Laxman is a fantastic player and I am a huge fan of his. But his fitness for the one-day game is not up to the mark. Laxman and Sourav Ganguly need to show more consistency; but that holds good for everyone," Vengsarkar said, reacting to Ganguly's knock of 118 for East Zone against North Zone in the Duleep Trophy.
Vengsarkar, who was the chief guest at the launch of Polycom Corporate Twenty-20 Cricket Fest, in Mumbai on Tuesday night, said he was happy that players like Robin Uthappa, Yashpal Singh, Gautam Gambhir and Rohan Gavaskar are among the runs.
Asked about his recent comment that there is no talent emerging from the country, Vengsarkar said he had been misunderstood a bit.
"What I said was that there was no new talent good enough to immediately make it into the Indian team right away. I never said there was no talent," he said.
He also felt that had India made it to the semi-finals of the Champions Trophy they would have won the title.
"If they had entered the semi-finals, it would have been anybody's game. Their exit before this stage was a big blow."
The former India captain said the Twenty-20 format is crucial towards spreading cricket in countries not familiar with the game, like the United States and China, as it encapsulates everything good about cricket in a short time of three or three-and-a-half hours.
"20-20 is going to be the future of cricket. It is a very important for the game as the 50-over game has become a bit monotonous. This is the way to spread the game around in countries like US and China. The players need to adapt to this format of the game too," he added.
