Former Indian skipper Sourav Ganguly said that Virat Kohli needs to be consistent enough in picking his playing XI.
Speaking at an event in Mumbai, Ganguly said “I would say that this is one area where 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. 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.“
Since his appointment as the test skipper, Virat hasn”t been playing with the same XI in consecutive games. Several players like Jayant Yadav, Karun Nair, and many others were tried and left out without chances.
Ganguly also said that he is surprised by the exclusion of Kuldeep Yadav in the first Test at Antigua.
“The last Test he played against Australia, he got five wickets, if you remember in Sydney on a good flat pitch, he picked up five wickets against Australia. 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”, said Ganguly.
He expressed his shock on dropping Ashwin for the test. It is to be noted that Ashwin bagged the Man of the tournament award during the 2016 tour.
Azharuddin too has his say
Not just Ganguly, but even Azharuddin spoke on the same few days ago. He said that he isn”t pleased by the exclusion of Rohit Sharma for the first test
In the latest interview with AajTak, he said that Rohit deserves to be a part of the test side. ” If you pick such a big player then you should play him and respect him“, said Azharuddin.
India is currently dominating the test with a lead over 260 runs. All eyes on the Indian side if they could open their account in ICC tets championship. With two more days to go, we are set for an interesting battle on the cards.
