BCCI president Sourav Ganguly believes Virat Kohli's captaincy and how he uses his resources will decide Team India's fortunes in the forthcoming Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Australia.
Kohli's India had created history the last time they were there down under in 2018-19 season, winning the four-Test series 2-1, country's first in Australia since the maiden trip in 1947-48.
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Ganguly thinks for Kohli's men to repeat the great feat, they'll need their captain to not only lead from the front as a batsman but also be at his tactical best on the field.
“Yes, it’s quality [Indian pace attack], there’s Navdeep Saini also who has improved enormously, enormously, than what we saw last year. Bowls at a good pace, good length, so India has the attack. It’s about Virat, and I’m saying this as a player not as a BCCI President, it’s about Virat just working with them and getting them to be at their best," Ganguly told India Today.
"He has to decide as a captain, who he wants to attack with, who he wants to defend with. At which stage of the game he wants to attack with an Ashwin or a Bumrah or a Saini or a Sharma or a Jadeja. It’s his captaincy skill," he added.
The former India skipper said given the attack at their disposal, it's a matter of Kohli's team consistently putting good scores on the board. In that, Ganguly feels the openers will have a significant role to play in seeing through the new ball and making it easier for the middle-order.
"So he’s got the attack, he’s got the batting. Opening will be very important when you go to England, when you go to Australia, when you go to South Africa, the first 20 overs are very important," he said.
"You need a Mayank Agarwal or a Rohit Sharma or a Prithvi Shaw. There’s be edges, there’ll be the ball decking around and once the 20 overs pass, it’ll be a different game. And that’s when Test matches are won or Test matches are lost."
"That’s why I’ve said that Virender Sehwag is one of the all time greats for Indian cricket because in my generation, he just took the new ball apart with Dravid at 3 and it was a great combination to win Test matches."
"And I think Agarwal, Prithvi Shaw, Rohit Sharma probably got to do that for Virat Kohli. We don’t want to see a Virat Kohli or a Rahane at [say] 15/2 with the ball still being new and a Cummins or a Starc or Hazlewood at their best with the new ball," Ganguly added.
Ganguly stressed it's important for Kohli and company to learn from their mistakes in South Africa, England and New Zealand before revisiting Australia.
"Yeah and he (Kohli) must sit back and understand [speaking of Kohli] that he has got to play better away from home," said Ganguly. "Yes, Australia was a good series which they won but they should’ve done better in England, New Zealand, South Africa in Test matches and they are a capable side."
"They must have learned from that and everyone has to bat well. We didn’t win in England because we didn’t get Test match hundreds other than Virat Kohli and Pujara."
“You won in Australia because Pujara got you 500 runs, 3 hundreds, Virat got a hundred, Rishabh Pant got a hundred. Rahane got scores of 60, 70, 80s. That is the only way you’re going to win series."
"Hopefully they’ll fight hard, buckle down. Australia will be a good attack with Cummins and Starc and Hazlewood and Nathan Lyon. In those conditions, they’ll play good attacks so it will be a good series," he added.
With Adelaide hosting the first Test from December 17, Ganguly thinks even though it'll be a D/N pink-ball affair, the team will take confidence from their previous wins at the iconic venue.
"India has won in Adelaide in 2003, in 2018 when they visited; so India has a history of winning in Adelaide. The first Test match starts in Adelaide. So play well and we’ll get on the right side of the series," he signed off.
