It was a 11-week-long tour for India Down Under where they played a total of five series against Australia and New Zealand combined winning three, losing one and one ending in a draw.
India defeated Australia with an equal margin of 2-1 in Tests and ODIs to create history before defeating New Zealand 4-1 in the ODIs, but failed to tick the last box in their long Trans-Tasman tour as the Men in Blue suffered a 2-1 defeat against the Blackcaps.
At the end of tour, Sourav Ganguly has picked the biggest positive for India from the limited overs series.
“The biggest positive for India was MS Dhoni because his performance from the past one year didn’t show he will go to the World Cup. He may be a bit bad today but overall he has improved a lot in the Australia and New Zealand series. So, this is the biggest positive for India,” Ganguly said during India TV’s talk show ‘Cricket Ki Baat’.
Ganguly was also full of praise for Vijay Shankar, Rishabh Pant and hailed Mohammed Shami’s bowling in the ODI series against Australia and New Zealand to be a big positive.
“Vijay Shankar improved his batting and Rishabh Pant played well too but I don’t think Shankar will go to the World Cup. Shami’s bowling in the ODI was the biggest positive,” said Ganguly.
India will now face Australia in a two-match T20I contest starting February 24 before engaging in a five-match ODI series against them from March 2. The home series will help India lock their final 15 for the ICC World Cup 2019 starting May 30.
