Virat needs to be a bit more consistent with team selection: Sourav Ganguly

Virat Kohli’s selection policy has always garnered attention mostly for wrong reasons. The India skipper rarely persists with the same eleven and faced criticism from all around for the same. Fortunately for Kohli, the results have gone his way otherwise things could have gone much worse for him. The 30-year old is now once again facing the heat for his selection for the ongoing first Test against West Indies in Antigua.

Kohli has been facing criticism as India benched the likes of Ravichandran Ashwin, Rohit Sharma and Kuldeep Yadav for the game. Former India skipper Sourav Ganguly has also joined the same chorus as he urged Kohli to be a bit more consistent with the players. The legendary captain said that he was surprised to see the list of players who could not make it to the playing eleven.

Citing the example of Shreyas Iyer, Ganguly said the captain needs to give freedom to the players. He further said that he was surprised to see Kuldeep out of the team despite taking a five-wicket haul in his last Test appearance.

“Virat needs to just be a bit more consistent— pick players and give them a bit more consistent opportunities — for them to get that confidence, rhythm, I have said that before. You saw how Shreyas Iyer played in that ODI series (against West Indies), you pick him and you give him the freedom to play those matches and I think that needs to happen with a lot of players and I am sure Virat will do that,” Ganguly was quoted as saying by Sportstar.

“I was surprised to see Kuldeep Yadav left out because the last Test he played against Australia, he got five wickets in Sydney on a good flat pitch. But Jadeja also has been in good form, the surface yesterday at Antigua needed three fast bowlers because we saw the seam movement the fast bowlers got and it was a question of the spin,” Ganguly added.

Ganguly on Ashwin’s exclusion

Ashwin’s exclusion has been the biggest talking point in the last couple of days. The reason for the same are obvious. Ashwin is one of India’s greatest match-winners in Tests but is yet to play an international game this year. Ganguly did not really criticise the decision but made sure to point out Ashwin’s fine record against West Indies.

“Ashwin’s record is phenomenal to leave him out in the West Indies, so it’s a decision which Kohli has made and we will find out in next couple of days whether how far Jadeja goes on to pick wickets on this surface,” the former captain said.