I have a lot of faith in Virat Kohli: Sourav Ganguly

Former Indian skipper Sourav Ganguly is pleased with the way Virat Kohli has led the Indian side thus far in Test matches. Kohli, who took over as captain of the Indian team in the fall of 2014 following the retirement of MS Dhoni has an impressive record to his name. As captain, the 27-year old boasts of series wins against South Africa, West Indies, Sri Lanka, and now New Zealand.

Having captained India for the better part of their so-called renaissance period, Ganguly most certainly knows a thing or two about how to captain a new team. The 42-year old, who currently serves as the president of the CAB also revealed that he was surprised when critics called him out due to his bad form with the bat in recent times.

“I have got faith in him and I think Indian cricket has a very bright future under Virat Kohli as the captain and all our good wishes are with him,” Ganguly told India Today.

“I was surprised when there were questions about his batting form a couple of days ago. We expect Kohli to keep performing because of captain or not the captain, his ability as a batsman is so much that he scores runs in all conditions,” Ganguly said.

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Finally, speaking about the World number one ranking, Ganguly wished the side all the best in holding onto that particular spot. Moreover, ‘Dada’ also went on to add the importance of stacking up Test match victories overseas.

“Kohli knows that the No. 1 spot is not a foolproof one. He needs to win in Australia, South Africa, New Zealand and England to be the No. 1 side and he’s looking forward to that. I think that’s the right way to go about it,” he said.

“This has got nothing to do with them and don’t think they should be worried about it. The team gets picked completely on merit, it is a very good side and played outstanding cricket at Eden Gardens. It was not a typical subcontinent pitch where the ball has spun from Day 1, it had enough help for the fast bowlers. The New Zealand pacers got help on this surface and India came out on top on that surface. I think this win is a lot more credible and I think this will give a lot of confidence to the team when they go abroad.”

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