MS Dhoni should stay as captain till World Cup: Sourav Ganguly
With Virat Kohli having impressed as ODI captain during India’s 5-0 whitewash over Sri Lanka and having been appointed captain for the first Test in Brisbane in the wake of MS Dhoni’s injury, there has been support from some quarters for Kohli to take over the reins on a permanent basis. Former India captain Sourav Ganguly, however, feels that there is no need to make any change till the World Cup.
"I don't see any change in captaincy till the World Cup and also it should be like that. Yes, Mahendra Singh Dhoni should be concerned about his overseas Test record because it's something that he will have to live with. But I don't think that Sourav Ganguly and Mahendra Singh Dhoni's captaincy should be compared.
"We captained teams in different eras. But just like I had the tag of being a captain who lists tri- series finals, Champions Trophy final, World Cup final, Dhoni has had a lot of success in major finals," Ganguly said at the Hindustan Times Leadership Summit in New Delhi.
India’s preparation for Australia Tests not ideal: Ganguly
The 42-year old said that he is unimpressed by India’s preparation for the upcoming Test series in Australia, with the visitors playing just a couple of practice matches before the all-important first Test in Brisbane, which starts on December 4.
"The key to doing well in places like Australia is the preparation before the Test series starts and not between the matches. I am not happy with India's schedule of two two-day games ahead of first Test match," he said.
"This effectively means that you will get only two innings to prepare yourself for the first Test which I don't think is ideal. Even someone like Virat Kohli would like to get at least four innings to prepare himself," he added.
India have been in awful form in Test matches away from home in the last 2-3 years, and Ganguly, who is India’s most successful overseas captain in Test cricket, said that it is the batting which is letting the team down, citing the example of their defeat to England at the Oval recently where they played a mere 90 overs in the entire Test.
"If you look at the Oval Test match few months back, we batted some 42 (61) odd covers in the first innings and some 25 (29) odd covers in the second innings. In Brisbane back in 2004, Australia made 323 and we responded with a 450 odd total. In Adelaide, we scored 550 and 700 in Sydney.
"At Headingley in 2002, we scored in excess of 600 runs. In that team, we had Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Anil Kumble, VVS Laxman. They were not loud people but always would give you that feeling of quiet confidence that we can do well," he said.
?Wasn’t affected by the match-fixing scandal: Ganguly
Ganguly took over as Indian captain in 2000 right after the match-fixing saga, and although he had heard about rumours of corruption in the sport, it didn’t affect him in any way.
"When we were young -- like myself, Rahul, VVS, we would often speak how does match-fixing happen? How do these people operate?? And why is it that we have never been approached?
"Luckily at the peak of the fixing controversy in 2000, I was in England for six months playing county cricket for Lancashire. So when I came back for the Champions Trophy, I had an entirely new team and there wasn't any past baggage."