Former Indian skipper Sourav Ganguly praised the Indian cricket team for their recent performances on the South Africa tour and also believes that the team can win the Test series on their upcoming England and Australia tours.

Indian cricket team performed really well on their recently concluded South Africa tour. Despite losing the three-match Test series by the 2-1 margin, Indian team performed well against the hosts. Later, India won the limited-overs series (by 1-5 in ODI and 1-2 in T20I) and proved themselves as a tough team on the foreign soil.

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In that South Africa tour, Indian skipper Virat Kohli performed extremely well with his bat. Apart from him, Indian fast bowlers also bowled really well throughout that tour which shows a shining future of Indian fast bowling. Ganguly wrote in his column to TOI, “He [Kohli] has taken batting to new heights and it makes us feel good for the upcoming visits to England and Australia because this team has the potential to win Test series in those two countries which is the ultimate achievement for any touring side. Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Jasprit Bumrah have only got better, and the latter has emerged as the future of fast bowling for India.”

Ganguly praised the Indian team for making a strong comeback after a tough beginning in the tour. He wrote, “After a difficult start to the tour of South Africa, India will be happy that they turned it around and returned with heads held high. It was also creditable to win that last match at Cape Town, where they lost the first Test (and the series) and then came back to win both the ODIs and T20s. And it was creditable that they won the last game without the services of Virat Kohli, who had a stiff back.”

Writing about the last T20I of that tour, Ganguly added, “A target of 172 was not a big one looking at the way the T20 series went, but India defended really well. The difference in the win may have only been seven runs but South Africa had a lot of catching up to do.”

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Ganguly also separately praised the Indian skipper Virat Kohli for his outstanding batting showcase in that entire tour. Ganguly wrote, “For India the standout for the entire tour was Virat Kohli; not only with his batting but also his inspirational leadership, especially at the Wanderers. Such performances actually make the team believe that they are better and stronger. He may have got a 40 on that pitch, but the guts and body language right throughout the Test changed the complexion for the remainder of the tour.”