The Indian team was on a high when they beat the Australians in their own backyard in a Test series for the first time ever and then earned a crushing series win over West Indies in the Caribbean as well.
However, things unraveled as they were demolished by New Zealand in the Tests, putting question marks about Virat Kohli’s leadership and Ravi Shastri’s guidance to the team. It seems that things are being closely followed by BCCI President Sourav Ganguly as well, who conceded that India is not playing well overseas.
"You have to play well outside, they are not doing that. And there is no hiding. Even when I was captain, I said I will be only judged how good I am when we play away and it remains the same. We will have a word with Virat and Ravi and the boys and help them to play well away," Ganguly told Sportskeeda in an interview.
Ganguly talked about consistency in the selection being important but refused to accept that the Indian team lacks it.
"I think it's changed a bit in the last four months. Isn't it. You see KL Rahul now playing both forms of the game, Mohammad Shami has come back for all forms of the game. (Ravindra) Jadeja has played all forms of the game. Rohit Sharma has played all forms of the game, although Rohit had played all forms of the game before we came in and ran the board," he said.
“Consistency is important. Yes you must have pressure, but I always believe don't put so much pressure that it doesn't work,” he added.
"Virat understands it and he is on the same page. There would be odd 1-2 decisions here and there but as I said our perspective is to play well away. We did not play well in New Zealand. We have Australia coming in 5-6 months’ time. I don't know whether I will be there or not (as BCCI president) but wherever I am, I will still want them to play well overseas,” the BCCI chief emphasized.
Ganguly applauded the team’s willingness to play pink ball, day-night Tests after success against Bangladesh. "We play a pink Test in Australia, we play a pink Test against England next year in Ahmedabad so...they have been fantastic," he said.
Ganguly also spoke about Indian players wanting to play in overseas leagues once they have called it a day, saying it is something that the board will discuss.
"We have allowed some, Yuvraj played last year. It's a decision we will have to discuss. We have to be practical. But at the same time, we have to protect the IPL. We need to create a balance. But if you are retired, you don't get to play...it happened to me when I retired. I was just playing IPL. I got offers from Big Bash, in England, Bangladesh... I said I would go and play for two years if I want to but I was not allowed. But rightly so, the brand was growing in 2010. This game has given me everything. I said fine if that's the way it is and I stay for IPL's brand to grow...so be it. I didn't play,” Ganguly explained.
