Former Indian captain skipper Sourav Ganguly is considered as the man who gave a winning direction to the Indian cricket. He had a team full of youngsters and he made the match-winners out of them in due course. He is now an expert and presenting his views during Team India’s ongoing tour of England. Ahead of the Test series Dada has placed his bet on two youngsters.
Ganguly recently revealed that apart from current skipper Virat Kohli, dashing batsman KL Rahul and mesmerizing ‘Chinaman’ Kuldeep Yadav excite him. Both had a great start to their England tour this month as they outplayed in the opening T20I at Old Trafford, Manchester.
During a chat with Harsha Bhogle on Cricbuzz unplugged, Dada said, “Virat Kohli – everybody is aware of him, but KL Rahul excites me. He’s a seriously good player, a player who’ll score runs everywhere, in all formats. The time that he has to play his shots, especially fast bowling. Even Rohit Sharma was batting at the other end, and I’m not comparing. Rohit has a remarkable record in the shorter formats of the game. Maybe it was one of those days where he was not being able to hit the gaps – it happens when you’ve played the game for a long period of time. But Rahul never looked out of place. He’s shown the world.”
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Rahul played a mesmerizing knock of 101 not out off 54 balls in the first T20I against England at Old Trafford which India won by 8 wickets. He has an average of more than 47 in the T20Is this year.
Even the great Kohli was not spared by the former players after in-form Rahul was dropped for the series decider ODI in Leeds which India lost by 8 wickets. Even in the three-day warm-up match against Essex at Chelmsford ahead of the Test series, too, he hit an assuring half-century for his team at No. 6.
Ganguly, who is tied at the moment with Kohli as the second-most successful Indian skipper in Tests, also praised Kuldeep who has been in a great form in this tour. While he grabbed a 5-fer in the same game in which Rahul slammed a century, he backed it up with a 6-fer in the first ODI in Nottingham that India won. Twenty-three-year-old Yadav has already taken 14 wickets in five white-ball matches that he has played.
Talking about Kuldeep, Ganguly said, “He’s tremendous. Kuldeep has got the ability to win you Test matches overseas. I think that’s important.”
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Sparing a thought also for Ajikya Rahane, India’s prized possession in overseas tours who though has failed to see him a regular in the playing XI. Ganguly put the onus on Kohli’s leadership skills in bringing a confident Rahane “back on track”.
