Give Pant time, he'll be fine: Ganguly

BCCI president Sourav Ganguly on Friday firmly backed struggling Rishabh Pant, calling wicketkeeper-batsman a "superb player" who will mature slowly and do just fine. 21-year-old is enduring a woeful run of form in ongoing T20 International series against Bangladesh and has struggled to make an impact both with bat and behind stumps. But Ganguly supported him.

"He's a superb player. Give Rishabh Pant time, he will be fine," former India captain told PTI when asked if India is missing Mahendra Singh Dhoni's safe hands behind wickets.

"He will mature slowly, you have to give him time. India played really well last night."

swashbuckling Delhi-player had a forgettable night at his home ground in Delhi, scoring 27 off 26 balls and made errors in calling for DRS as India suffered ir first-ever loss against Bangladesh in a T20I. Rohit Sharma led by example as India levelled 1-1 in an emphatic fashion in second T20I in Rajkot on Thursday but Pant again made headlines for all wrong reasons by collecting ball in front of stumps, reby missing Liton Das' stumping.

Pant, however, redeemed himself to an extent with an excellent run-out and stumping. India play final T20I of series in Nagpur on Sunday. team will play 10 more T20 Internationals against West Indies, Sri Lanka and New Zealand in build-up to Twenty20 World Cup in Australia in October next year. re has been news yet of Dhoni's availability for upcoming Twenty20 World Cup.

Ganguly furr spoke about upcoming first ever Day/Night Test match in India at Eden Gardens from vember 22 to 26. hosts will take on Bangladesh. A galaxy of Indian sports stars, including cricket icon Sachin Tendulkar, Olympic champion Abhinav Bindra, tennis star Sania Mirza, world badminton champion PV Sindhu and six-time boxing world champion MC Mary Kom among ors, will be felicitated.

Day one's proceedings are slated to begin with Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina ringing Eden Bell. Cricket Association of Bengal will felicitate players who competed in first India-Bangladesh Test in 2000, a game in which Ganguly made his debut as Test captain.

"Everyone has confirmed. We will have a formal reception in afteron," Ganguly added.