Delhi, March 9: Former India captain Sourav Ganguly hailed his longtime friend Rahul Dravid as the latter called time on his first-class cricket career. Ganguly welcomed Dravid’s decision to retire, saying it was an expected call.

"With this decision Dravid has made a statement to the selectors that it is time for change in Indian cricket as we have lost eight consecutive overseas Test matches. 8-0 is never a good sign.

"I believe Rahul should have retired after the England series and not waited for the Australia tour. In any case, this is the right decision and I saw it coming," Ganguly said of Dravid’s exit from the international arena.

Ganguly admired Dravid for making way for the youngsters to ensure a smooth transition in the side.

"When Dravid came [into the side,] that was a period when Indian cricket was going through a transition phase and he is also leaving at a time when Indian cricket needs a change," he said.

Ganguly felt it would be a tough task for any batsman to try and emulate Dravid’s achievements over a Test career that lasted 16 years. "You may not get anyone who will be able to replace Rahul Dravid but again you cannot continue forever because it took 16 years and 13,000 runs in Test cricket to make a Rahul Dravid."

Ganguly, however, shortlisted a few young batsmen who were capable of filling the slot emptied by Dravid. “Virat Kohli is playing well and Rohit Sharma has the talent, but he needs to translate [that] into performance; also there is Manoj Tiwary and Cheteshwar Pujara. There are names but you have to give them a chance to know how they perform."

Ganguly rated the century against Australia in the historic 2001 Eden Gardens Test as his favourite Dravid knock. "180 at Calcutta [now Kolkata] against Australia tops my list. 148 at Headingly was also good but the situation in Calcutta was far more difficult."