ENG v IND 2018: Virat was panicky after not having a good England tour in 2014, says Sourav Ganguly

Ganguly believes cancellation of Virat's county stint with Surrey is good for the Indian Captain.

Sourav Ganguly (AFP)

Former India Captain Sourav Ganguly has come out and stated that he has complete faith in Virat Kohli's ability to bounce back from his horrible tour to England last time.

Virat has the game, Sourav says, to excel everywhere and he is happy that India's best batsman did not end up playing county cricket in his eagerness to be well-prepared for the stern challenge.

Virat who had signed with Surrey was scheduled to play in the month of June for the county to prepare for the tour of England before a neck-sprain ruled him out of it. 

"Dada", as he is fondly called, was quoted saying to PTI that, "Kohli is a fantastic player. He will do well this time. I am happy that he did not play county cricket before the England series. I think he was eager to play county (ahead of the series) because he was panicky after not having a good tour last time around. He is too good a player to miss out this time,"

"India's chances are bright but England are also in good form. It will be a closely contested series," 

Sourav recently saw England amassed 481 in the Trent Bridge ODI and he is, much like most cricket lovers, worried about the way ODI Cricket is played. He suggests the need to restore the lost of art of reverse-swing in the white-ball game. 

He said, "Yes two news balls do take reverse swing out of the picture because the ball doesn't get old enough to reverse. Reverse swing is also dying because the grounds are a lot greener today. The balls don't get scuffed up enough. They don't get dry and rough on one side for the reverse to happen," 

"500 runs in 50 overs is terrible. Bowling has to find a way. I don't understand why the best bowlers don't play. Wasim (Akram) and Waqar (Younis) played ODIs and Tests all together, so did (Glenn) McGrath and (Brett) Lee and (Shaun) Pollock and (Allan) Donald. All played at the same time. I don't understand having a separate set of bowlers for Tests and ODIs"

"It (481/6 in England) was a poor advert of cricket. Every over had three boundaries. You cannot have Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood not play. So the best of players have to play. Nathan Lyon mostly plays Tests, doesn't play ODIs. Shane Warne played everything, so did Anil (Kumble) and (Muttiah) Muralitharan," 

 
 

By Kashish Chadha - 24 Jun, 2018

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