Former India captain Sourav Ganguly has disagreed with current skipper Virat Kohli after the team's 72-run defeat to South Africa in the opening Test in Cape Town.
Indian batsmen struggled against Proteas' pace bowling as they surrendered in both innings. They managed scores of 209 and 135. Hardik Pandya was the lone bright spot with an impressive 93 in the first innings at Newlands stadium.
Also read: SA-India series schedule, squads, live streaming info
At the start of the match, many were surprised that India dropped vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane for Rohit Sharma. Now, Ganguly too has questioned Kohli's decision to pick the latter saying "it is not about form".
"History of Rohit Sharma and history of Shikhar Dhawan in overseas conditions are not very good. You look at their records, it's like chalk and cheese when they go away and when they are in India. So you are basically depending on Murali Vijay and Virat Kohli as the two best performers in overseas conditions," Ganguly tolday "India Today" TV.
He added, "Look at Cheteshwar Pujara. His 13 of 14 Test hundreds have come in subcontinent conditions. I keep saying about KL Rahul because he has scored runs in Australia, he has scored runs in West Indies and Sri Lanka. It's not just about form, it's also about where people score runs. But let's not panic too much. I was not surprised by the result. I have tremendous regard for Virat Kohli and we will see an improved performance in the next game."
After the match, Kohli had defended Rohit and Shikhar's selections. The Delhi batsman said they picked Rohit on current form while they went with Shikhar as they wanted a left-right combination at the top of the order.
"Well, we decided to go on current form. Rohit has scored runs in the last three Test matches that he has played, and he was batting well, even in the series against Sri Lanka," he said.
The second Test starts in Centurion on Saturday (January 13). The third and final Test is in Johannesburg from January 24.
