India vs Australia | Wanted to send Virat Kohli a Text during Perth Test, reveals Sourav Ganguly

The Indian team fell to their first defeat in the ongoing four-match Test series as they were beaten by 146 runs in the second Test in Perth. Many critics and fans blamed the loss on some bad selection choices made by the Indian management and also on the below-par batting performance from the top order. And former Indian captain Sourav Ganguly revealed that he was on the verge of sending Virat Kohli a text message that could have aided the Indians in avoiding a defeat in Perth.

"I had thought of sending a text to Kohli but I haven't done it yet. I wanted to tell him that you shouldn't give so many wickets to spinners outside the subcontinent. There is no doubt that Nathan Lyon is a great spinner but so were Shane Warne, Muttiah Muralitharan and Graeme Swann.

"They have shown him too much respect by defending a lot of deliveries outside the off-stump. Instead, I feel they should attack him more and look to build towards at least a total in excess of 300-350," Ganguly said in an interview with IndiaTV.

Ganguly, who represented India 113 Test matches, added that he was disappointed with their showing and asserted that winning Tests is not possible until the batsmen perform to their potential. The former KKR batsman also claimed that the Indian management must accept their role in the loss on the weekend.

"For all of India's top order batsmen, this is not their first tour to Australia. They have been there before. Logically their game should improve over the years but from what we saw in Perth, it is difficult to say it has. Barring Kohli and (Cheteshwar) Pujara, none of them are making a lot of runs and this is not good for the team. If India have to win, they will have to do a lot more.

"I don't think picking up Umesh Yadav lost India the match. The main problem is that the team has failed to touch the 300-run mark overseas most of the times in the past year or so. If you can't do it, then it gets really difficult to win Test matches. Head coach Ravi Shastri and batting coach Sanjay Bangar must answer for India's repeated batting failures outside the sub-continent," Ganguly concluded.