Sourav Ganguly’s India would have defeated Virat Kohli’s team in Test cricket, reckons Aakash Chopra

Aakash Chopra, the former Indian cricketer, feels that Team India, led by Sourav Ganguly, would have easily beaten Virat Kohli’s team in Test cricket. The veteran did a hypothetical comparison between the two teams where Sourav Ganguly’s side emerged stronger. Chopra, who’s one of the most renowned commentators, threw light on Kohli and Ganguly’s style of leadership.

For Kohli, he said that barring the 2018-19 tour of Australia, Kohli’s team has strained to make mark in trying overseas conditions. As a skipper, Virat has indeed lost Test series in South Africa, England and New Zealand. Regarding Ganguly, Chopra said that the former Indian skipper, taught the team how to win on foreign soil. Sourav helped India taste victories in Pakistan and England.

Aakash Chopra opines

“We went to Australia and drew the series there. We went to Pakistan and defeated them. In India, we drew one series and lost one series to Australia. And Sourav Ganguly’s team even drew the series in England. It was a fairly good team, a team which taught us how to win abroad,” Ganguly was quoted as saying in Sportskeeda.

“Virat Kohli’s team has defeated Australia in their home conditions, the only team to have done so in Indian cricket history. But they lost in South Africa and lost quite badly in England. In South Africa, they came close but lost the series 2-1,” he added.

For the time being, Kohli is India’s most successful captain as far as numbers are concerned. Last year, he toppled MS Dhoni’s tally in the Jamaica Test against the West Indies. Under his leadership, India are also sitting pretty on top of the points table in the ICC World Test Championship. Though they lost 0-2 to the Black Caps, they are at the helm with as many as 360 points.

In the meantime, here’s the playing elevens Chopra picked to make his comparative analysis.

Sourav Ganguly’s XI:

Virender Sehwag, Aakash Chopra, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, VVS Laxman, Sourav Ganguly, Parthiv Patel, Harbhajan Singh, Anil Kumble, Zaheer Khan, Ajit Agarkar

Virat Kohli’s XI:

Rohit Sharma, Mayank Agarwal, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane, Hanuma Vihari, Wriddhiman Saha, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Ishant Sharma, Mohammed Shami/Jasprit Bumrah