Indian Team needs more players to step up and play like Kohli and Dhawan: Sourav Ganguly

After a heroic triumph at Durban, Indian Team went on to continue their stupendous stint in the first three one-day Internationals but in the Johannesburg’s rain-curtailed game, the hosts were finally able to find some respite to put an end to the visitor’s four-match winning streak. Moreover, one thing which stands out in the first four matches for India is the superlative form of the mustache rolling southpaw Shikhar Dhawan and reliable Virat Kohli.

It is believed that if skipper Virat Kohli and Shikhar Dhawan, the pivot of India’s batting fail on any given day the rest of the team have to chip in with the willow and contribute considerably. Fortunately for India, the duo have been able to impress the populous but the likes of Rohit Sharma and Hardik Pandya have failed miserably which eventually concerns the former skipper Sourav Ganguly.

More Players need to step up

Speaking to the TOI, Sourav Ganguly said, “Shikhar Dhawan and Virat Kohli have continued their dominance with the bat and are really playing very well. The good thing when they bat is that the run-rate remains healthy. If either of them — more so Kohli — are dismissed early, then the others will have to take the innings forward. This didn’t happen in the last 15 overs at the Wanderers.”

Though the last encounter may have turned out to be a rain curbed game, Ganguly believes that the Proteas played well to pull off the game from the tourist. He said, “South Africa managed to pull one back to continue their 100 percent record in pink clothing. There will always be that question whether Saturday’s curtailed game made life easier for them. Well, it just might have.”

“More than the number of overs, however, it is the rain that probably made it difficult for the Indians, especially the spinners, to bowl. Not that the spinners have turned the ball enormously in the previous three games of the series. Rather, it was a question of very poor batting by the South African batsmen which resulted in 21 wickets for the spinners. On Saturday, the moisture in the surface due to the rain actually allowed the ball to skid on to the bat and that helped the South African batsmen,” he concluded.