Sourav Ganguly expects more from Virat Kohli as a captain

Virat Kohli played an exceptional inning on the second day of the first Test match of India’s tour of England 2018 when he scored a beautiful knock of 149 runs which not only helped him score his 22nd Test century but also helped him hold the game in India’s favour. Even though India lost the match, Kohli managed to score a total of 200 runs which helped him attain the top ICC Test rankings for the batsmen, dethroning the former Australian skipper, Steve Smith and is the first Indian to attain this rank after Sachin Tendulkar in June 2011.

However, former Indian skipper, Sourav Ganguly has a different perspective about the current skipper. Ganguly stated that Kohli, no matter how he has maintained himself as a good quality player, isn't up to the mark in keeping the whole team confident and motivated enough to play a better game altogether. 

"If you're the captain, you will be criticised for a loss the same way as you will be congratulated for a win.One criticism for Kohli is that he should give a consistent run to his batters and more time before dropping them.The captain should give confidence to his players. It's his team and only he can change their mindset. He will have to sit with them and tell them that if he can do it, so can they.He should give them time and tell them to go out and play without any fear. It is true that after continuous chopping and changing of the playing XI, players can get afraid that after all these years, they've failed to garner the faith of the team management” Ganguly wrote in his Instagram account.

He also mentioned that consistency in the team selection is something that Kohli should focus on. 

“The good thing about the great teams of the past - be it Australia or South Africa or our very own team which won the series here [in England] in 2007 - was that the boys used to play both formats [Tests and ODIs] of the game. So even if you played badly in one or two matches, you got a lot of time to get back into form at the international level. Playing and scoring 150 in first-class cricket can't compensate for international cricket. In this team no batsman except Virat plays all formats,” Ganguly concluded.