Kolkata, Mar. 12 : Former Indian captain Sourav Ganguly today said that as far as he was concerned India was a safe country to play in and was hopeful that the second edition of the Indian Premier League(IPL) would take place without any problems.

On the forthcoming Lok Sabha polls coinciding with IPL fixtures, Ganguly said it was for the Home Ministry and the IPL authorities to take a decision regarding dates if required.

The Kolkata Knight Riders captain said the recent attacks on the Sri Lankan cricketers in Pakistan was unfortunate, but it did not mean that cricket matches should be forgone in India on grounds of security concerns.

Speaking to the reporters at the launch of a motor cycle in Kolkata, Ganguly said that the present Indian side is good and the most important thing is that the team is now playing well overseas.

In an oblique reference to Sachin Tendulkar's recent statement that the present One Day batting line up was the best India ever had, Ganguly pointed that everyone was entitled to their personal opinion, but no one could rule out the era of Sunil Gavaskar, Kapil Dev and Dilip Vengsarkar who were superb players of their time.

After that came the era of Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman, of which he himself was captain, Ganguly said, adding that there should be no comparison between players of different times.

Ganguly also said the this was now the era of Dhoni, Sehwag and Gambhir. (ANI)