Kolkata, Former India skipper Saurav Ganguly on Saturday heaped praise on captain and ace batsman Virat Kohli for his heroics with the bat against teams like Australia and South Africa and said it is important for him to strike a balance between his captaincy and batting in the coming years as well.
“Every captain has to strike a kind of a balance if they want their teams to win… It is important that when you are a captain and you are leading your side passionately, you have to find a fine line as a captain and as a batsman — which he has done exceptionally well,” Ganguly said at a book launch.
“So that is the biggest challenge. I think it is important that he separates his captaincy from his batting for the next one year till the world cup. Because if he plays well, India will win,” he said.
Ganguly hailed the performance of two young Indian young spinners Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav in the South Africa series and said they have the potential of winning Test matches for India abroad.
“When we see those two young leg spinners bowl in South Africa, you would sit up and say come to Test match cricket. I am sure to see at least one of them in England and Australia, winning cricket matches,” he said.
He also praised Kohli for his “transformation” following his disastrous England tour in 2014.
“Look at his transformation — he struggled against England in 2013 but in Australia, six months after that he scored four hundred in four test matches. I have not seen any Indian batsman play so well in Australia. We all have hundreds in Australia. Sachin, Rahul, VVS (Laxman) and I but what he did in those four Tests was something I have not seen for a long time.That actually transformed him,” he pointed out.
“Being the best player in the team, you know that your performance is very very important.We saw it in the one-day series against South Africa where he scored three hundred in six games and it completely transformed the series,” he said.
When asked about team India’s prospects of winning the World Cup next year, Ganguly said the team led by Kohli has the capacity to come out victorious.
“Yes, of course, they can do it. They played the Champions Trophy final last year. Let’s not get too far ahead. Wish them all the best. They have got some wonderful talent. Hopefully, they will be there,” he noted.
