India captain Virat Kohli is under the scanner for Team India’s poor performance in South Africa. To add to it, the reaction of Kohli to the questions asked by journalists during the press conference did rest of the work, and once again, he is the talk of the town for all the bad reasons despite batting well in the second Test in Centurion.
As the Indian team is standing on the brink of a ‘un’-historic whitewash, the pendulum seems to have swung against Kohli with former Proteas skipper Graeme Smith questioning his credentials as a captain. However, former India captain Sourav Ganguly, not agreeable on Smith’s words, gave a fitting reply to the former.
Smith, South Africa’s most successful Test captain, recently said he is not sure Kohli would be a long-term captaincy option for India.
“When I look at Virat, I think he needs someone in the support staff who can constructively challenge him and help him grow,” Smith said.
“He has all the capabilities tactically, he knows his own game, he sets the standard in the field for everyone else. I think if he had a really constructive person in his environment, who could talk to him, make him think, maybe even challenge him with some different ideas, in a constructive way, not an angry or aggressive way, but make him think, open his eyes to other possibilities, that would make him a really good leader,” Smith added.
Meanwhile, Ganguly totally disagrees with Smith’s view.
“I do not agree with Graeme Smith – Virat is a young captain and this is his first proper overseas tour. It’s a pretty harsh statement,” Ganguly told India Today.
“He will learn when he goes to England and Australia in the next few months. The statement was too early from Graeme – he is a good man and a great captain but I do not agree with his views on Kohli.”
Kohli became the cynosure of most cricket pundits and veterans following the South Africa debacle which many reckon, was due to his poor selection strategy.
