Kohli a lot more proactive than Tendulkar as a captain, says Sourav Ganguly

Kohli a lot more proactive than Tendulkar as a captain, says Sourav Ganguly

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Sourav Ganguly believes that Virat Kohli’s hands-on approach separates him from Sachin Tendulkar as a skipper but added that their batting abilities cannot be rightly compared as they come from different eras of cricket. Ganguly also sided with Kohli on the scheduling issues in Indian cricket.

Virat Kohli has been in a phenomenal form of late, breaking batting records in almost every series he is playing. After becoming the fastest batsman to reach 9000 in ODIs during the New Zealand series, the young skipper reached his 50th career century in the last Test match against Sri Lanka at the Eden Gardens, which also marked his 18th Test ton.

The media has never wasted such chances to pull a comparison between him and the legendary Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly was asked the same thing in a recent interview. Praising the young skipper, the former Indian skipper, however, stated that while he believes Kohli could come close to Tendulkar’s ODI record of 49 tons, his 51 Test centuries seemed difficult to attain.

“Virat will get very close to Sachin's one-day international hundreds which is 49. He already has 32. He will get close to that. He has got to stay fit. When I was playing, from 1996-2003, I had 22 ODI hundreds in 7 years. I see that with Virat Kohli as well. He has got 30 odd in about nine years. It gets tougher with age. It got tougher for Sachin, it got tougher for me, it will get tougher for Virat Kohli," Ganguly said, as quoted by IANS.

It has been repeatedly stated that Tendulkar’s legacy cannot be reduced to just numbers and Ganguly reiterated the same stating that both the players come from two different generations and are very different in nature and cannot really be compared. Tendulkar plied his trade at a time when cricket didn't have such docile pitches and the battle between the willow and leather was a close one. Not only has Kohli been playing more games than Tendulkar, but there is hardly any bowler in the T20 era that terrorizes batsmen now. The increased focus on fitness also remains a huge differentiator in the generations.

“It's not right to compare because these are two cricketers who are from two different generations. I have seen Tendulkar very closely… Virat Kohli, a hundred a couple of days ago at Eden Gardens on that pitch, and you could see his expression when he finished. He is a lot more expressive than Tendulkar. He is a lot more proactive than Tendulkar as captain. Tendulkar was different, maybe the generation was different," added Ganguly.

The former skipper was also asked about Kohli’s recent lashing out at BCCI for a cramped schedule that leaves Team India with just two days of rest before the South African tour, and Ganguly has seconded Kohli's view. The whole Indian have hardly had any rest since a year now and head coach Ravi Shastri and the players have been miffed by it. The former India skipper said that he understood the team's stance and added that he agreed with them on the issue.  

“He was talking about scheduling of cricket which is so correct. You got to give teams time to prepare when they go to South Africa," Ganguly said.

After the ongoing Test series, India are scheduled to play three ODIs and three T20Is against Sri Lanka, which will be followed by three Tests, five ODIs and three T20Is, against South Africa, after a rest of just two days.

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