Kolkata, May 4: He made his ODI debut (2003) 14 years ago in Bangladesh. The captain of the Indian team was Sourav Ganguly in that series. Ganguly, after retiring from the game has joined administration. He is presently the president of Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB). But the man, who had debuted under his captaincy, is still playing.

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Ganguly is amazed to have watched Gautam Gambhir's consistent form in the ongoing IPL. Gambhir has already scored 411 runs in 10 matches with an average of 51.37 including four excellent fifties. (KKR-RPS match highlights)

Ganguly, speaking during the match between Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) and Rising Pune Supergiant (RPS) on Wednesday (May 3) at Eden Gardens, said, "Gambhir deserves a place in the national team for the forthcoming Champions Trophy. He is in excellent touch. I am truly elated to have watched Gambhir's dedication even after playing the game for so many years. More importantly, KL Rahul is yet to regain fitness following injury. So, it will be high time for the selectors to think over Gambhir for the Champions Trophy."

The former Indian skipper also revealed that he was not surprised with Gambhir's decision of asking Sunil Narine to open the innings.

Ganguly said, "Narine had already started the innings before. So, he has experience of batting as number one. But at the same time, the team captain will have to understand that the ploy might not click in every match. Narine did not get runs in the team's last couple of matches."

When asked about Royal Challengers Bangalore's (RCB) poor showing in this year's IPL, Ganguly said, "They had actually crashed out of the race for title in the beginning of the League by losing couple of matches in a row."

Champions Trophy starts on June 1 in England. India are the defending champions, having won in 2013. BCCI is yet to announce the squad.

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