cricket

Updated: Sep 09, 2018 20:08 IST

India chief coach Ravi Shastri turned heads when he said that this team has managed to win matches overseas, something which previous Indian teams failed to do. Former India skipper Sourav Ganguly in fact called the coach ‘immature’. In stark contrast, captain Virat Kohli has said that his inability to finish the games in both Birmingham and Southampton saw India hand England an unassailable 3-1 lead in the ongoing five-match series. Kohli’s comments has impressed Ganguly who feels that this attitude is what makes the current captain special.

“During the press conference, when Mike Atherton asked Kohli about the reason for India’s defeat in Southampton, Kohli had said that had he played a little bit more, India would have won the Test match. Big players like him take responsibility on themselves and they will never come up with excuses. Kohli’s attitude towards the game is and has always been different from others. I would like to say that isn’t it strange how the captain and the coach think different,” he said during a show on India TV.

Going ahead, Ganguly said that it is Kohli’s responsibility to take the team forward. “A captain has to make a player. He has to say that you are my trump card and you will win us games. There is no doubt that Kohli is a champion batsman, but as a team where he takes them is what will be something worth seeing. The way Kohli speaks shows self-introspection is there. He needs good guidance and has to have people around who will tell him that there are areas that need to be looked into,” he explained.

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While there has been a tendency to compare teams from the past with this Indian team, Ganguly said that was unfair as the team he captained, had seven or eight players who went on to play around 100 Tests for the country and that is no joke.

“I will say don’t compare. Players like Rahul Dravid, Virender Sehwag, VVS Laxman or Anil Kumble come once in a generation. If you look at that team, from the opener to number 8, players played 100 Tests. Out of the 11, say 7/8 have played 100 or almost 100 Tests. So, one shouldn’t compare,” he said.

But Ganguly wants the captain and the coach to take responsibility and ensure that the players move forward rather than back. “Be it Cheteshwar Pujara, KL Rahul or Ajinkya Rahane, they have the capability. The captain and coach must ensure the team moves forward. Dravid wasn’t Dravid when he came in 1996. People said don’t take Viru (Sehwag) to South Africa as the ball will hit his head. But he changed Test cricket. So it is important to ensure people have to move forward, not go back,” he said.

Earlier, commenting on Shastri’s comments, Ganguly had said: “These are immature comments. You should not pay much attention to what Ravi Shastri says. What he says and when he says things, no one knows. Whichever generation is playing for India, be it Chetan Sharma’s or when I played for India or when Dhoni played or now when Virat is playing, we are all the ‘Indian Team’.”