Sourav Ganguly better captain than MS Dhoni and Virat Kohli, says Virender Sehwag
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Virender Sehwag has stated that Sourav Ganguly was the best captain of the Indian team, and termed him even better than the likes of MS Dhoni and Virat Kohli. Sehwag has also termed the World Cup match between India and Pakistan on June 16 as war and stated that India should win it.
Sourav Ganguly was made the captain of the India ODI team and replaced Mohammad Azharuddin after the infamous match-fixing scandal of 2000. Immediately after his appointment, India won the series against South Africa and even reached the finals of the Knockout Cup in 2000. Under his captaincy, India started winning overseas and the southpaw went on to become India’s most successful Test captain with 11 wins in 28 matches. The 2002 Natwest Trophy victory over England, where Ganguly removed his t-shirt in the Lord’s balcony, is remembered as one of the most iconic moments on Indian cricket.Â
Virender Sehwag, who had made his breakthrough under the captaincy of Sourav Ganguly, has stated that Ganguly is still the best to have captained India.Â
"This, I feel
MS Dhoni is the most successful captain for India in the ODI format with 110 wins. The wicket-keeper batsman has captained India in a record 200 matches and has won India the 2007 T20 World Cup, the 2011 World Cup and the 2013 Champions Trophy. On the other hand, Virat Kohli has the highest win percentage among the regular captains of India, in both the Test and limited-overs format. He has won 49 of 68 matches as captain in ODIs, and 26 of 46 matches in Tests, and even defeated Australia down under recently.Â
But the former India opener feels that Ganguly took over when India had an unsettled team, and given the conditions of Indian cricket then, his leadership was more valuable than that of Dhoni and Kohli.
"When you have a new team (unlike Dhoni and Kohli), in-experienced players, leadership matters the most," remarked the 40-year-old.
India is scheduled to play Pakistan in the World Cup on May 16 at the Old Trafford in Manchester, and Sehwag went on to term the match as a virtual war.
"We should do whatever is good for the country. When India and Pakistan play, it's nothing less than a war. We should win the war, not lose it," he signed off.
