IND vs SA | Virat Kohli has to bring back wrist spinners into T20s, says Sourav Ganguly

After auditioning with the wrist-spinners in the build-up to the World Cup, India's plans fell apart with few bad IPL games for Kuldeep Yadav and the post World Cup strategy took a complete U-turn. In the Windies series away and against South Africa at home, India preferred finger-spinners like Ravindra Jadeja, Washington Sundar, and Krunal Pandya - two of whom are left-arm spinners - over either of the spinners, something that baffled Ganguly big-time.

"Other than the middle-order this is a good team but Virat needs to bring back the wrist spinners into this format. I hope Yuzvendra Chahal has only been rested to give an opportunity to others or else he is a must for India in the T20 format. India doesn't need two left-arm spinners. The test series will start soon and hopefully India will play on good pitches and not rank turners, as it has been in the last series because India is a very good team on any surface," Ganguly wrote in his column for Times of India.

After drawing the three-match Twenty20 International series 1-1 against South Africa, India are set to face South Africa in the three-match Test series, starting October 2, but the home season is dominated by T20s, keeping an eye on 2020 T20 World Cup in Australia in mind. That will be a litmus test for Virat Kohli's captaincy, and in India in general, considering their barren run in the World event ever since they won the 2013 Champions Trophy.

Ganguly, who knows a thing or two about the pressure that comes with being an Indian cricket team captain, advised Kohli stay calm for a long period of time and not pay heed to the opinions of "so-called interested parties in cricket".

"The T20 World Cup is in Australia next year and it is quite natural that a lot of so-called interested parties in cricket will jump up and down, passing their opinions and judgements about all that can happen. The key person amidst all this will be Virat Kohli and it will be important for him to stay calm for a long period of time," Ganguly added.

"He has a young batting unit under him and all of them will need a lot of support from the captain, at the top of the list will be Rishabh Pant. His entry into international cricket has been brilliant and for me, he is India's solution for all the formats. There has been a talk about Pant's shot selection and rightly so but all must understand, he will learn and only get better. He is a match-winner and a longterm bet for India," the former India captain said.

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