India shouldn’t be too buoyant in the fourth Test: Sourav Ganguly

India might have pulled one back at Trent Bridge to remain alive in the series against England, but former captain Sourav Ganguly has cautioned them against becoming overly buoyant in the fourth Test starting August 30. Virat Kohli’s men thrashed England by 203 runs after losing the first two matches and will need to win the next one in Southampton as they will be aspiring to pocket the series.

India came up with an all-round show at Trent Bridge to surprise England after the innings defeat they suffered at Lord’s. Kohli himself set up new records in the match – both as a batsman and a captain – and one of his records was to put behind Ganguly in the race to become India’s most successful captain in Tests. Kohli now has 22 Test wins, one more than his predecessor and only Mahendra Singh Dhoni with 27 wins is ahead of him.

“India staged a forceful and decisive comeback at Trent Bridge which has opened up the series and the pressure is fully back on England. It was India’s mindset which stood out as they confronted England and caught Root and company unaware,” Ganguly wrote in his Times of India (TOI) column.

‘Fourth Test will be a mental battle’

Praising India’s openers – Shikhar Dhawan and KL Rahul – for their crucial ball-blunting roles at Trent Bridge, the 46-year-old wrote, “The openers laid the foundation by putting on 50-plus in both the innings. They survived the new ball, didn’t let the English bowlers make early inroads, put runs on the board and sent a message to the dressing room that if you want to, you can stay put.”

India put up 60 runs for the first wicket on both their innings and went on to cross 300 twice in the match – something that didn’t happen in the first two Tests.

Ganguly also said that the fourth Test will be a “mental battle”. According to him, India’s return from the edge of a series loss would make them buoyant but he advised them not to overdo it. Ganguly, who is commentating for the series, is one of India’s four captains who did not lose a Test series in England – the others being Ajit Wadekar, Kapil Dev, and Rahul Dravid.

[interaction id=”5b8501e2b2f5085487fc8f3b”]

For more news and developments, stay tuned on CricTracker.com.