South Africa vs India: Sourav Ganguly urges fans to give Kohli his time as captain

Former Indian captain Sourav Ganguly has backed the Indian captain Virat Kohli. Kohli has been in the firing range of the cricket pundits after team India conceded the ongoing series against South Africa. Kohli’s fiery press conference after the game did no good to his reputation either. Amidst this backdrop, Ganguly has urged the fans to give Kohli his time at the helm of Indian cricket.

Many former cricketers like Graeme Smith went on to remark that Kohli might not be a long term captain for India. Sourav Ganguly, however, feels nobody is a born leader. He mentioned that Kohli is only bound to get better from here on. It is important for him to continue performing on the personal front as well.

“There is lot of talk going around about Virat Kohli’s leadership qualities. It is important to be patient as it is his first big overseas tour. Nobody really is a born leader and it is important that leaders are allowed to develop and grow. I am convinced Kohli will keep getting better at this. It is very important that as a leader you keep performing – that is the biggest challenge and this is where Kolhi has done remarkably well,” wrote Sourav Ganguly in his column in TOI.

On the Wanderers pitch

Coming to the final Test of the series, a lot of talk is about the track at the Wanderers, Johannesburg. Commenting on the pitch status, Sourav Ganguly rightly mentioned that nothing can be spoken about it until the first ball is bowled. He feels that the team should not get carried away by the pace theory and exclude the spinner from their side.

“The hype is obviously about the pitch, about what India will get to play on. The groundsman has spoken about a green pitch but till a ball is bowled, you can never say what the track will be like exactly. There is also word that India will play five fast bowlers but they will have to be very careful because spin will be useful in a five-day game and variation is also important in a longer format,” mentioned the former skipper.

On R Ashwin’s place in the side

Adding more to the same point, Sourav Ganguly reckons that R Ashwin deserves to retain his place in the side. In the previous game, Ashwin had scored some valuable runs with the bat in the first innings. Ganguly noted that the Indian bowling has had no concerns whatsoever. They have been bowling well and have picked up a lot of wickets. Their only concern thus far has been the batting.

Hence, they need their batters to step up to the occasion and perform heavily. A very optimistic Ganguly said that the Indian team has performed well previously and is a bunch of hugely talented guys. Hence, there is absolutely no reason why they cannot perform well again in the testing times.

“R Ashwin’s effectiveness with the bat should not also be discounted. The Indian bowlers have been in superb form this series. They have picked 20 wickets in both the Tests and it is important for the batters to stand up and put runs on the board. There is enormous talent in this batting unit, they have done it before and I find no reason why they can’t do it again,” noted Ganguly.

“They will need to believe in themselves, need to fight for every run as a batting unit. The question for India will be whether to play five bowlers or four. If the pitch remains green till the start then they can go in with four bowlers and should pick that extra batter. If not, they must continue with the five bowlers,” he noted further.

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