Virat Kohli will lose, he is human: Sourav Ganguly

Former Indian skipper Sourav Ganguly has come out in support of Virat Kohli after India’s unexpected defeat in the hands of New Zealand. A match-winning stand of 200-run between Tom Latham and Ross Taylor ensured that Kohli’s record-breaking hundred in his 200th game goes in vain. India are currently trailing the 3-match ODI series by a margin of 0-1 and this is not a familiar side for the in-form Indian line up.

Having beaten Sri Lanka 5-0 and Australia 4-1 in the last two series, it came as a shocker when the Blackcaps comprehensively turned the table around. The Kiwi batters played the spinners well and swept at will when needed. Many criticized the Indian skipper for taking the visitors lightly and being sloppy while making decisions, but Ganguly begs to differ.

“Kohli will get better. He will lose games once in a while even in India. He is not superhuman. No captain has gone through without losing games and series in India. You look at MS Dhoni’s last one year as captain, he lost in Bangladesh. South Africa came and beat us at home. We were then beaten by West Indies in the World T20 semi-final,” Ganguly told India Today on Sunday.

He added: “He will lose, he is a human. There are good oppositions. New Zealand’s middle order, unlike Australia, is going to test the Indian bowlers. This series is going to be a good workout for India. It will test India and eventually, it will be good for them.”

Kohli could have done a little better: Ganguly

Ganguly also feels that Kohli could have tried a few things after watching the New Zealand batsmen going after the Indian bowling.”I think the Indian team was a bit flat during the later part of New Zealand’s chase. They [Latham and Taylor] played Kuldeep very well. Latham swept him well, after getting settled he started reverse sweeping him well,” Ganguly said.

“From that point of view, I thought Virat Kohli could have done a little bit better. But that’s the way it is, he will learn. You have to give credit to New Zealand, very rarely seen any side in the last two years play spin very well against India,” he added.