Gautam Gambhir agrees with Virat Kohli, says, 'India started winning overseas under Ganguly's leadership'

There is no doubt that Team India is the most dominant Test side in the world. They are the No.1 team in the world for three years; they are near impossible to defeat at home (37 wins and four defeats this decade); boast of a great middle-order led by their charismatic captain and arguably the best fast bowling group that the country has assembled in their history.

If you consider overall Test matches of this decade, India boasts of the W/L ratio -56 wins, 29 defeats; 1.931- the best in the World. When you track back to the resurgence of Indian cricket, one man’s name that will almost immediately come to your mind will be of Sourav Ganguly. And, rightfully so! After a forgettable decade that was the 1990s, where India won just one overseas Test out of 39 and the match-fixing that ensued, Team India needed someone who took pride in overseas Test wins; someone who wasn’t just satisfied with success at home.

So, there came about a change in attitude and India started winning frequently thereafter. They won a Test in West Indies in 2002, drew a series in England (1-1) and Australia (1-1, 2003), beat Pakistan in Pakistan in 2004. Ganguly’s legacy was ably taken forward by Rahul Dravid, under whom India won in the West Indies for the first time since 1971, defeated South Africa in a Test match on their soil for the first time (2006-2007) before winning a Test series in England in the summer of 2007.

Virat Kohli labelled Test cricket as a mental battle

So, when Virat Kohli said that the team learned to stand up under Sourav Ganguly, it wasn’t entirely wrong, but it was entirely correct either.

“Test cricket is a mental battle. We’ve learned to stand up – and it all started from Dada’s [Sourav Ganguly] team, we are carrying it forward. The belief is key and to be honest we’ve worked hard, and are reaping the rewards of it now,” Kohli said. 

Yes, the 1990s were disappointing but it is not that the Indian team didn’t win in overseas conditions back in the 1970s and 1980s. India defeated West Indies on their home soil in 1971, won a Test series in England in 1986, won a Test match at the MCG in 1981 and if not for rain and inclement weather, would have won their maiden Test series in Australia in 1985-86, something which Sunil Gavaskar alluded to in his defence to Kohli’s statement.

“The Indian captain said that this thing started in 2000 with Dada’s [Ganguly’s] team. I know Dada is the BCCI president, so maybe Kohli wanted to say nice things about him. But India were also winning in the ‘70s and ‘80s. He wasn’t born then. A lot of people still think that cricket started only in the 2000s. But the Indian team won overseas in the ‘70s. The Indian team also won away in 1986. India also drew series overseas. They lost as other teams did,” Gavaskar had said.

Gautam Gambhir has his say on Virat Kohli’s statement

And, now Gautam Gambhir has had his say on the matter. Gambhir, who played in an Indian side that won on New Zealand soil for the first time since 1967-68, under MS Dhoni in 2009, said that it is Virat’s personal thinking. However, the former opener added that every previous captain was dominant at home but it was under Ganguly’s leadership that the team started winning overseas.

“See that’s Virat Kohli’s thinking and there is no doubt that we started winning more away from home under Sourav Ganguly. Even previous Indian captains and almost every Indian captain has been dominant. From Gavaskar Ji’s time or Kapil Dev’s time till now India has been a dominant force under every captain at home but under Ganguly’s leadership, we started winning overseas,” Gambhir said as quoted by TimesNow.

“If you talk from the point of view of winning away from home, I agree with Virat Kohli on what he said – that we are carrying forward Ganguly’s legacy as captain,” he added.

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