Sourav Ganguly urges Anil Kumble to focus on India's fielding

England are inching towards a massive first-innings total of 500 in the fifth Test at Chennai. Moeen Ali scored a superb century while Joe Root, Liam Dawson and Adil Rashid also contributed with handy half-centuries to help England to a score of 452/8 by Lunch break on Day 2. While posting a big score won't be a problem for the visitors, Sourav Ganguly questioned the quality of their bowling unit.

"They've (England) put up scores, last Test in Mumbai they put up 400. Now how many teams in world cricket would lose a Test match after scoring 400 specially on a pitch which has spun so much. So England will put up a good score in this first innings, they could get to 500 because there's a lot of batting still to come but their problem is who is going to get the Indians out?," Ganguly told India Today.

The Indian fielders have dropped quite a few catches in this series and once again had to pay the price when KL Rahul dropped Moeen Ali's when the left-hander was on zero. Ali went on to score 146 in the match laying the foundation for England's big total. Ganguly feels that it is high time Anil Kumble focused more on the fielding aspect of India.

"These are conditions tailor-made for us with the ball spinning opportunities are created not once but twice, Day 4 and 5 it's going to be even more. But when you go away and play on pitches which are better you will have to take your chances. England could have been 20 for 3. 

"So catching is key, once again I keep saying this and I'll tell that to Anil (Kumble) when I meet him in Kolkata for the one-dayers that he's got to find a specialist. If anybody dropped catches when he (Kumble) was bowling he would have been fuming. I don't know what he's doing in the dressing room, but he's got to find specialist fielders who will stand day in day out in those key positions because that's the only way they can become good fielders," the former Indian captain added.

Ganguly was also full of praise for England batsman Joe Root, but felt England's spin department has let them down.

"Root is a good player there's no doubt about it. I think only Virender Sehwag has got as many fifties in a calendar year as Root. He's class and I don't think because of him getting out before a hundred has cost England the series because they have posted 300, 400 runs regularly. It's about the bowler's who've not picked wickets. Howsoever runs you put in it hasn't been enough for England. It's been a good batting performance from England but they know deep down inside that their spin department has let them down," the 44-year old said.

Virat Kohli recently replaced Root to secure the second rank in the ICC Test Rankings. Ganguly feels that Kohli's knack of converting scores of 70s and 80s into hundreds is the main difference between the duo. 

"At this moment when they talk about the best in the world, that's the difference between Virat Kohli and Joe Root. Kohli converts those 75-80s into hundreds and double hundreds. Look at what he did in Mumbai. Just a hundred would not have saved India's cause in that Test and he went on to make 235 and took England completely out of the game.

"Root will also learn from this. He's a terrific player in all conditions and has got hundreds in Australia, South Africa, England and on turning pitches. He's just 25 at the moment and he's only going to get better," Ganguly concluded.