Virat hasn't been tested yet as Test skipper: Sourav Ganguly

In what was a pure one sided encounter at Galle, India trounced Sri Lanka by 304 runs in the first Test. Earlier on Day 4, Indian skipper Virat Kohli went on to complete his 17th Test century in the morning session before declaring, having set a massive target of 550 for the hosts.

What followed was the Indian spin twin Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja wreaking havoc with the Sri Lankan batting order. Asela Gunaratne and skipper Rangana Herath didn’t come out to bat owing to injuries as India needed just 8 wickets to win the game.

Former Indian captain Sourav Ganguly sounded quite confident about India’s thorough dominance in the series. He felt that the Sri Lankan team doesn’t seem likely to pose much challenges to India. “India are perfectly balanced with so much firepower in their batting, bowling and fielding. Sri Lanka on the other hand, have a lot to worry about,” Ganguly told India Today.

“The last two years they (Team India) have been wonderful, especially away from home. Under Anil they won everything in the West Indies and then came the home season. I feel India won’t be challenged in these conditions. Kohli is absolutely right when he said in the post match ceremony that ‘they have been clinical in their performance’,” he added.

Real test outside the subcontinent

He also maintained the notion that in spite of all the victories under Virat Kohli’s captaincy, his real test would be doing well outside the subcontinent.

“Virat hasn’t been tested yet. Sri Lanka is probably not the strongest Test side at the moment. For me, the fans as well as for Virat Kohli himself, the yardstick will be how well his side performs in South Africa, Australia and England.”

No lean patch

Speaking about Kohli’s first century in 2017 after a patchy series against Australia, Ganguly said, “I don’t consider it a lean patch as he only struggled in one series. If you look at the Champions Trophy and the one-day series in West Indies, he has been in good touch.”

He also concluded by stating that the bowling has remained a huge concern for Sri Lanka and that they’ll have to implement and execute better in the field otherwise Indian batsmen are not going to shy away from scoring runs at their will.

“Sri Lanka have a lot to think about on how to get batsmen like Shikhar Dhawan, Cheteshwar Pujara, Kohli and Ajinkya Rahane out. If they don’t bowl well they will have to field a lot in these hot and humid conditions,” Ganguly said.