Former India skipper Sourav Ganguly, who is all set to start a new innings at the administrative level, wants Virat Kohli to start a new phase under his leadership. While praising the Team India’s performance, the former Indian skipper didn’t shy away from pointing out that the Indian team hasn’t won a single ICC event since 2013. Speaking to the reporters, Ganguly said that the team always “plays well in big tournaments” but now their focus should be more on winning multi-nation events organised by International Cricket Council (ICC).
Despite highlighting team’s breakdown in knock-out stages, Ganguly was optimistic about Kohli’s leadership and backed him to reverse the trend of losing in the semifinals and the final in ICC events. “India are a good team. I know they have not won a big tournament. But they play well in big tournaments except the semifinals and the final. Hopefully, Virat can change it around. He is a champion player,” Ganguly told reporters in Kolkata on Tuesday. India’s last major triumph at the global stage came in 2013 when MS Dhoni led a young Indian side to a title victory in ICC Champions trophy in England. Before that India had won the 50-over World playing in front of their home crowd — that too under Dhoni’s leadership.
Under Kohli, the Indian team has managed to play an attractive style of cricket and has even tasted success playing overseas. India’s first-ever Test series win Down Under is testimony to their improved performance. However, the players have succumbed to the pressure in knock-out stages of big ICC events.
Under Kohli, India have been knocked out thrice — at home in World T20 (2016), ICC Champions Trophy (2017) and 50-over World Cup (2019) in United Kingdom — from the multi-nation events. India had exited the 2016 World T20 after losing to the West Indies in the semifinal, while their finsihed runner-sup to arch-rivals Pakistan in 2017 Champions Tro
