Former England captain Nasser Hussain has picked Sourav Ganguly as the captain who transformed Indian cricket and made it ruthless. The former England captain believed that the Indian cricketers were a bunch of good players, but it all changed when Ganguly took charge as the skipper.
"I love his aggression, to be honest. Indian cricket changed because of Ganguly. Sourav was never bothered about being friends with people. He transformed them from a nice cricketing nation to a ruthless one which was only interested in winning," he told India Today.
Kohli still learning as a skipper
Former Australian captain Michael Clarke rated MS Dhoni and Sourav Ganguly as the two best Indian captains to have served Indian cricket. He also believes Virat Kohli is still learning the art of captaincy and he needs to improve. However, he was quick to add that as a batsman, there is no one close to Kohli in ODIs at the moment.
"I think the Indian captains that stand out for me are Ganguly and MS Dhoni. Virat continues to grow as a captain," Clarke said.
"As a batsman, there is no one close to him in ODIs. I watched Sachin Tendulkar and Brian Lara rule ODI cricket while I was growing up but at this moment Virat in ODIs is better than anyone else. To be able to handle the pressure of a billion people and still going on to score day after day is something that stands out. For that matter, Sunny (Sunil Gavaskar) also deserves a lot of credit for making Indians believe," he added.
This sentiment was endorsed by Nasser Hussain as he too believed Kohli was a work in progress as a skipper but was a dominating batsman. He also believed that the Indian captain was determined to win games for his side and nothing else drives him more.
"Virat is not worried about anything else other than winning games for the country. That is his greatest asset as a captain. I thought there never will be someone to replace Sachin, but Kohli is going to break them all - just a phenomenal achievement by a phenomenal player," Hussain added.
India will take on South Africa in their first match of this World Cup on June 5 at Southampton.
