Following India’s historic ODI series victory in South Africa, former India skipper Sourav Ganguly has lauded Virat Kohli's leadership and his awe-inspiring show with the willow. Ganguly believes that overseas Test series victory is just a matter of time the way Kohli and his men are playing lately.
"Kohli has done brilliantly. Overseas Test series wins will come - the only places he has captained India in full series are West Indies and South Africa,” Ganguly told India Today.
The Prince of Kolkata further went on to say that the next two series in Australia and England will define Virat’s legacy as a captain.
"The next two series in Australia and England will define him as a captain. He has got the ability. The best thing he does as a captain is that he leads by example. Look at the hundreds he got against South Africa.
"I have seen MS Dhoni captain, I have seen Rahul Dravid captain but I have never seen anyone perform this consistently with the bat as captain as Kohli has," he added.
In order to put up a better show in the alien conditions of England and Australia, Dada also advised Kohli and company to depart for the tours early.
"For the two series against England and Australia, Kohli and the team needs to go early. Play a couple of side games before getting into the series," he said.
Kohli has taken his game to a different level altogether in the ongoing tour of South Africa. After amassing 286 runs at an average of 47.66 on some of the most difficult pitches in the three-match Tests series, the 29-year-old scored three more one-day international tons in the recently concluded six-match ODI series against the Proteas.
Kohli became the first batsman in the history of ODI cricket to amass more than 500 runs in a bilateral ODI series. He finished the series with 558 runs at an incredible average of 186.
"Kohli is a flag bearer of Indian cricket. I have seen a lot of purple patches including mine, Dravid's and Sachin Tendulkar's. I genuinely believe that this is not just a purple patch for Kohli, this is genuine greatness," Ganguly concluded.
Such is Kohli’s domination in One-Day International cricket that he now boasts 21 hundreds in chasing in which India have emerged victorious on 19 occasions. Moreover, the 29-year-old averages a mind-boggling 58.11 after 208 ODIs with 9588 runs. Besides, he is the only batsman on the planet to have an average of over 50 in the Twenty-20 format after 55 games.
