Former Indian cricketer Sourav Ganguly has pointed out one big difference in attitudes of Team India captain Virat Kohli and head coach Ravi Shastri.
Ganguly’s comments have come in the wake of Kohli’s recent interview and comments of Shastri ahead of the fifth Test match against England at the Kennington Oval.
While talking to a News channel, Ganguly has pointed out that while Virat Kohli is owning up to the team’s defeat, coach Ravi Shastri is talking in different tune and belittling the past Indian teams when questioned about the current team’s performance in England.
Kohli had recently said that if he had scored few more runs in the second innings at Birmingham and the first innings at Southampton, Team India would have probably won those matches.
“The second innings at Birmingham, I think about that and the first innings at Southampton, I think about that. So that when I am in the same position next time, I don’t let the team down. I want to be able to take the team across the line,” Kohli told Michael Holding in an interview.
When asked about Kohli’s statement, Ganguly said that owning up to the Indian team’s defeat against England shows that Virat is the right man to lead the side.
“He had said the same last time as well when asked by Mike Atherton after India’s defeat in Southampton. Kohli had said that had he played a little bit more, India would have won the Test match. Big players like him take responsibility on themselves and they will never come up with excuses.”
Ganguly added, “Virat’s attitude towards the game is and has always been different from others… I would like to say that isn’t it strange how the captain and the coach think different.”
Also, Ganguly had hit out at head coach Ravi Shastri for comparing Indian teams of different eras.
Shastri had earlier said that the current Indian team has managed to win matches overseas, something which previous Indian teams failed to do. Shastri had said, “The endeavour of this team is to travel well, compete and win. If you look at the last three years, we have won nine matches overseas and three series. I can’t see any other Indian team in the last 15-20 years that has had the same run in such a short time, and you have had some great players playing in those series.”
Shastri’s words didn’t go down well with Ganguly and he lashed out at the head coach for making “immature comments”.
“These are immature comments. You should not pay much attention to what Ravi Shastri says. What he says and when he says things, no one knows. Whichever generation is playing for India, be it Chetan Sharma’s or when I played for India or when Dhoni played or now when Virat is playing, we are all the ‘Indian Team’,” Ganguly told the channel.
