Happy that Virat Kohli didn't play county before England series, says Sourav Ganguly

Happy that Virat Kohli didn't play county before England series, says Sourav Ganguly

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Sourav Ganguly has stated that he was happy about Virat Kohli missing the county stint with Surrey as it would keep him refreshed for the tour and also backed him to do well. He also questioned Cricket Australia's rotation policy stating that top players should play all formats of the game.

Virat Kohli was scheduled to make his County debut for Surrey just after the IPL season in order to acclimatize himself with English conditions ahead of the much-awaited tour before a neck injury ruled him out of it. After averaging just 13.40 in five Tests with a top-score of 39 during his last England series, this stint was expected to play an important part of his preparations. However, former India captain Sourav Ganguly has expressed his happiness about Kohli missing the county stint and sounded confident he will do well in the upcoming tour.

"Kohli is a fantastic player. He will do well this time. I am happy that he did not play county cricket before the England series. I think he was eager to play county (ahead of the series) because he was panicky after not having a good tour last time around. He is too good a player to miss out this time," Ganguly told PTI.

Kohli has been supremely successful in South Africa and Australia, making England one of his few unchartered territories to conquer. And Ganguly has been of the opinion that the close contest would see both the teams doing well in the five-match Test series.

"India's chances are bright but England are also in good form. It will be a closely contested series," he reckoned.

Ganguly has also raised concerns on where the game was heading after England amassed 481 runs in an ODI against Australia. He fully concurred with Sachin Tendulkar, who has stated that bowling with two new balls in ODIs was a "recipe for disaster".

"Yes two news balls do take reverse swing out of the picture because the ball doesn't get old enough to reverse. Reverse swing is also dying because the grounds are a lot greener today. The balls don't get scuffed up enough. They don't get dry and rough on one side for the reverse to happen," Ganguly said.

Pressed further on the controversial subject, Ganguly questioned the rotation policy followed by teams like Australia.

 “500 runs in 50 overs is terrible. Bowling has to find a way. I don't understand why the best bowlers don't play. Wasim (Akram) and Waqar (Younis) played ODIs and Tests all together, so did (Glenn) McGrath and (Brett) Lee and (Shaun) Pollock and (Allan) Donald. All played at the same time. I don't understand having a separate set of bowlers for Tests and ODIs.” he said.

 "It (481/6 in England) was a poor advert of cricket. Every over had three boundaries. You cannot have Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood not play. So the best of players have to play. Nathan Lyon mostly plays Tests, doesn't play ODIs. Shane Warne played everything, so did Anil (Kumble) and (Muttiah) Muralitharan," said the former skipper.

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