'There's no hiding', Sourav Ganguly concedes India need to do better overseas
Former India captain Sourav Ganguly is regarded as one of India's greatest captains, and the 48-year-old recently spoke about why the Indian team was so successful under his tenure as skipper of the national side.
Speaking on Sportskeeda's latest series 'Free Hit' hosted by Indranil Basu and Shanivi Sadana, Sourav Ganguly shed light on experience in the team as one of the biggest factors that saw Indian cricket reach new heights under his leadership.
"I think I had a fantastic team. You see that squad, 7 out of 11 went on to play 100 Test matches. Virender Sehwag, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, VVS Laxman, Harbhajan Singh, Anil Kumble, Zaheer Khan played 98 or 95 matches. Eight of the 11 went on to play almost 100 Test matches, so that had to be a good team," he said.
"Whichever way you want to see it, good team, good players that’s why they played 100 matches or they were persisted with and that’s why they played 100 matches, but at the end of the day when you look at the stats, all of them played 100 games," Sourav Ganguly added.
Having first taken up the reigns of the Indian cricket team in the Test format in 2000, Sourav Ganguly led a star-studded Indian side to a number of memorable wins. Under his stewardship, India won 21 matches and drew 15 matches out of a total of 49 matches.
Sourav Ganguly feels the Indian team needs to work on doing well in foreign conditions
Sourav Ganguly, who is currently serving as the president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) further dwelled on the topic of the Indian team's inability to produce match-winning performances in foreign conditions.
"They’ve to play well outside, they are not doing that. There’s no hiding. Even when I was captain, I said I will be judged on how good I am is only when I play well away and it remains the same. We will have a word with Virat (Kohli), Ravi (Shastri) and the boys and help them to play well away," he added.
With the Indian team's cricketers spending time at home amidst the lockdown situation due to the coronavirus, it remains to see as to when they will next turn out on the field for their next assignment.