Former Indian captain Sourav Ganguly has come forward in Virat Kohli’s defence after India’s demoralising defeat in the first of the four Tests against Australia in Pune. Kohli, who was on a 19-match unbeaten streak in the five-day format, had a forgettable Test in Pune. Kohli was dismissed for duck in the first innings by Mitchell Starc and Steve O’Keefe tricked him with an arm ball in second innings.
Throwing his weight behind Kohli, Ganguly said that he had to fail one day being human, in an interview to India Today.
“To watch those four Test match hundreds against Australia, I have not seen even the great Sachin Tendulkar do that,” Sourav Ganguly said.
“Kohli is human and he had to fail one day. He failed in both innings in Pune. I think he played a little bit of a loose shot in the first innings outside the off stump but the Australians bowled him there,” Dada added.
India will take on Australia for the second Test in Bangalore on 4th March. All eyes will be on Kohli and his team when they take the field and try to change the things around. India are the number 1 Test team in the world and coming into the second Test after that massive defeat in Pune, will be a big test of their character.
Squads
India: Virat Kohli (capt), Murali Vijay, Lokesh Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Wriddhiman Saha, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Ishant Sharma, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Umesh Yadav, Karun Nair, Jayant Yadav, Kuldeep Yadav, Abhinav Mukund, Hardik Pandya.
Australia: Steve Smith (capt), David Warner, Ashton Agar, Jackson Bird, Peter Handscomb, Josh Hazlewood, Usman Khawaja, Nathan Lyon, Mitchell Marsh, Shaun Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, Steve O`Keefe, Matthew Renshaw, Mitchell Starc, Mitchell Swepson, Matthew Wade.
