Sourav Ganguly asks Ravi Shastri to take a back seat and let captain pick the team

Ganguly also questioned Virat Kohli's approach of not assuring long-run for players.

Ganguly asked Virat to give long run to players and for Shastri to step back | AFP

Former India captain Sourav Ganguly has opened on selection decisions with respect to Team India. He stated that there is a difference between cricket and football and unlike the latter, the game of cricket has more importance for a captain than a coach. Ganguly said the coach should take a back seat while captain takes all the key decisions. 

Ganguly added that the coach should have the quality of 'man management'. Speaking at the Symbiosis International (Deemed University) to launch his book - 'A Century is not Enough', he said, "It is not like football. A lot of current cricket coaches think that they are going to run a cricket team like a football team, but cricket is a captain's game and coach has to take a backseat and that is important."

The former Bengal cricketer is one of India's most successful captains. When asked what is the best advice he had received during his career, Ganguly quipped, "Never pick a coach." 

Ganguly said if he will have a chance to question Ravi Shastri, India's head coach, he is going to ask, "Who picks up the team, Rohit Sharma (stand-in ODI captain) or Ravi Shastri." 

The 46-year-old recalled his captaincy stint and said he was lucky to have players like Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Virender Sehwag, Zaheer Khan and Harbhajan Singh in his team.

Ganguly had backed players like Harbhajan, Zaheer and Yuvraj Singh to do well. But he feels Virat Kohli, the current Indian skipper doesn't give his players a long run.

"Virat (Kohli) needs to work little on it. I backed them because I saw them closely, I have seen them how they react to pressure," he said. 

Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh have been poor in the on-going Asia Cup 2018. But Ganguly thinks they are good to make a comeback and it's just a phase.

"I think it is just a phase and they will get back on the track. They are strong teams," he said.

Ganguly rated the Australian side the weakest in last 20-25 years. India will be touring Down Under later this year. 

 
 

By Sihyeu Singh - 25 Sep, 2018

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