Sourav Ganguly impressed with the way Virat Kohli defended MS Dhoni

Former Indian skipper Sourav Ganguly looked absolutely impressed with the bonhomie that Virat Kohli and MS Dhoni share. Recently, several critics of the game had asserted that Dhoni should quit the shortest format of the game and make way for youngsters. All of this brewed up after India’s defeat to New Zealand in a T20I fixture at Rajkot.

Soon after the conclusion of the tour, Virat Kohli hit back at the critics for targeting MS Dhoni. Ganguly looked particularly impressed with this episode of the entire scene. He mentioned that Kohli knows how to take care of his players.

“He (Kohli) is a fantastic captain. I don’t know what he does inside dressing room or what he does tactically, as I’m too far away (from the team). I don’t know what he speaks in team meetings but the way he looks after his players is remarkable. I keep saying about MS Dhoni and what I see of Virat on MS is fantastic. A champion player (Dhoni) who’s probably on his last leg of his career and Virat coming and saying that he’s my man and I want him to play. You just change a player,” quoted Sourav Ganguly.

On Virat Kohli’s captaincy

Speaking about Virat Kohli’s captaincy, Sourav Ganguly noted it to be top notch. Ganguly feels that Kohli is one of the best players team India has produced. The way Kohli handles the situations and the attitude he shows on the field, it is all remarkable.

However, the former skipper feels that the actual test for Kohli and co. would come when the Indian team tours overseas. If he is able to replicate his captaincy success in the overseas tours as well, then that would be the actual parameter to judge him.

“He’s top class cricketer, one of the best India have produced for a long time. He reaches out, he handles it well. I like Virat Kohli and when I see him on the field, I sit on my sofa and watch. I’ve said it many times he’s a champion player. When I see him captaining India, he wants to win in all conditions. He’s very passionate,” said Ganguly.

“But I keep saying you always be judged how you do outside India. Of all our wins, Pakistan was good as well. It’s the belief we had of winning way that’s the legacy. After Dravid took over captaincy, we went to England and won there in 2007, so it’s the belief we can win away,” he added.

Recalling the NatWest Series final

Talking more on the overseas wins, Sourav Ganguly revisited the iconic NatWest series win of 2002. He had stitched a 106-run stand with Virender Sehwag in the match. Recalling an incident, Ganguly mentioned that he had asked Sehwag not to hit every ball bowled by Ronnie Irani, but Sehwag did not listen to him. This made him furious but he held back his tempers. Ganguly conceded that captaincy is not about being the boss but holding tempers too.

“We had a terrific start and then Ronnie Irani came to bowl his slow medium bowlers. I told Sehwag ‘don’t leave at this stage’. Ronnie pitched it up and Sehwag scored a boundary. I told him to rotate a strike, he scored two more and also swept another. I finally stopped going at him, he understood that I am not happy. Later he told me ‘don’t get angry all those balls were ‘hittable’. Captaincy is not about being boss, also about holding back your tempers,” recalled Ganguly.

Commenting on his famous reaction of taking his shirt off, Sourav Ganguly remarked that it was more of a relief reaction than anything else. India had lost 3 finals prior to that and hence the reaction on winning one was wild.  “Before that we had lost three finals. A lot of that expression after the game was a sigh of relief. I just got carried away,” he conceded.